Abstract

Background: The mouth opening range is one of the major characteristics features that different one person from the other. Literature has shown that the maximal mouth opening range varies among different people, ages and regions. On average, a person should be able to fit 3 fingers in an opened mouth. However, differences exist.

Aim: To set a reference measurement for maximal mouth opening in Saudi Arabian adult population.

Methods: The study was conducted on patients attending dental clinics in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The maximum mouth opening (MMO) was recorded for adult patients using a ruler. The patients were requested to open their mouth at maximum level and the length between the maxillary central incisor edge and the mandibular central incisor edge in the same side of the mouth was measured. Correlation of the mouth opening with age was determined using a Spearman correlation matrix. Besides, Kruskal Wallis and Mann Whitney tests were used for comparing the continuous variables.

Results: The maximal mouth opening mean ± SD of the participants was 50.1 ± 6.3 mm. Mean ± SD maximal mouth opening for males (52.5 ± 6.3 mm) was statistically significantly higher than females (47.8 ± 5.3 mm) (p < 0.05). Spearman’s test between maximal mouth opening and age showed a negative correlation of p > 0.05. No statistically significant difference was found between the mean ± SD maximal mouth opening and age groups (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: The conclusion obtained from the findings is that the males mean maximal mouth opening of an adult was significantly higher than females in Saudi. A negative correlation suggesting that mouth opening decreases with age.

Keywords: Maximum Mouth Opening; Saudi; Age

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Citation

Citation: Yueh Ju Hsiao., et al. “Prevalence of Odontogenic-Related Maxillary Sinus Pathologies in an United States Dental School Population”. Acta Acta Scientific Dental Sciences 4.7 (2020): 46-51.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Yueh Ju Hsiao., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.