Influence of food consistency on growth and morphology of the mandibular condyle

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine if variation in the shape and mineralization of the mandibular condyle are the result of natural adaptation in response to different functional loading demands. Eight female Kuni Kuni piglets were randomly assigned to two groups of four, receiving either a soft or hard diet. Each animal was given three separate doses of vital stains intravenously at set time points during the study. At 8.5 months, animals were euthanized and temporomandibular joints (TMJs) were excised. Histological analysis was used to measure the amount of new bone deposition in the anterior, central, and posterior regions of the mandibular condyle. Backscatter electron (BSE) imaging was used as a semiquantitative estimate of bone mineralization in these two diet groups. Histology revealed that the degree of new bone deposition in the hard-diet group was significantly (n = 4, P < 0.001, paired t-test) higher than that of the soft-diet group. Also, the majority (87%) of animals fed a hard diet tended to show greater new bone deposition on the leftside in comparison to the right, indicating a chewing preference for the left side. In both groups, the degree of new bone deposition was significantly (P < 0.01) higher in the posterior area than in other regions. BSE imaging corroborated basic histology results, with significantly (P < 0.01) higher mineralization levels detected in the hard-diet group. These findings indicate that diet consistency has a small but significant effect on the rate of bone deposition in the mandibular condyle.

Marked Directional Skull Asymmetry in the Araucan Horse

“…The dorsal aspect of the muzzle would have a tendency to shift left to compensate for the right-lateralized mastication, for mandible movement during chewing, and thus for greater mechanical forces on one side than on the other. 38 An oriented asymmetry of the skull could therefore be determined by a continued increase in use of one side of the mandible in respect to the other. 38 Evidently, mechanical forces of different strength during mastication would affect the morphology and internal structure of the bony structure.…”

Mastication in goats shows achewing side preference

“…Side preferences in chewing motion may also be due to innervation differences between both facial segments due to injuries or difficult access to preferred food choice [16]. So, if there are unbalanced attritive (wear) forces due to a chewing side preference, and if animals tend to chew the hard food mostly with their left side and soft food with both left and right [17], teeth wearing will be exacerbated, although not enough to cause pathological disharmonies between masticatory right and left sides.…”

Relação da espessura e da atividade elétrica do músculo masseter com a força de mordida: um estudo morfológico e eletrofisiológico

“…However, we need to take in consideration that Brazilian diet is different from the participants' diets in those studies. Once food consistency seems to have an influence on the craniofacial development and more specifically in the mandibular condyle 31 .…”