BACKGROUND: The association between body postural changes and temporomandibular disorders
(TMD) has been widely discussed in the literature, however, there is little
evidence to support this association. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to conduct a systematic review to assess the
evidence concerning the association between static body postural misalignment and
TMD. METHOD: A search was conducted in the PubMed/Medline, Embase, Lilacs, Scielo, Cochrane,
and Scopus databases including studies published in English between 1950 and March
2012. Cross-sectional, cohort, case control, and survey studies that assessed body
posture in TMD patients were selected. Two reviewers performed each step
independently. A methodological checklist was used to evaluate the quality of the
selected articles. RESULTS: Twenty studies were analyzed for their methodological quality. Only one study was
classified as a moderate quality study and two were classified as strong quality
studies. Among all studies considered, only 12 included craniocervical postural
assessment, 2 included assessment of craniocervical and shoulder postures,, and 6
included global assessment of body posture. CONCLUSION: There is strong evidence of craniocervical postural changes in myogenous TMD,
moderate evidence of cervical postural misalignment in arthrogenous TMD, and no
evidence of absence of craniocervical postural misalignment in mixed TMD patients
or of global body postural misalignment in patients with TMD. It is important to
note the poor methodological quality of the studies, particularly those regarding
global body postural misalignment in TMD patients.