A Study of the Correlation of Incisive Biting Forces with Age, Sex and Anterior Occlusion

Abstract

This study was designed to prove or disprove the fact that incisive biting force can be correlated with the variables chosen which were age, sex and anterior occlusion (overjet, overbite and cuspid relation). The amount of linear contact made by the incisal edges of the upper and lower incisors was also included as one of the variables. One hundred and fifty individuals, 80 males and 70 females, between the ages of 10 and 25 were selected for this study. This was a cross sectional study in which four readings of the maximum biting ability were recorded for every individual just once during the study and an average of the four recordings was taken. An intra-oral force transducer using strain gages was employed to record incisive biting forces. The results indicated that age, sex and amount of linear contact were correlated with biting force when considered singly. When the variables were considered jointly through a stepwise regression analysis overbite also entered as a significant predictor of biting force in addition to the three mentioned variables. Multiple correlation coefficient R was 0.54 for the four entered variables (age squared, sex, overbite and linear contact squared) with biting force. The R squared value was 0.29 so that 29 percent of the variation in incisive biting force of this sample was due to these four variables. The correlated R-squared value indicates a large error of prediction and a low degree of precision in estimating biting force from these four variables. Therefore, a regression equation is not demonstrated.