DysMandiPost

Temporomandibular dysfunctions (TMDs) are a real public health problem, and can sometimes be very disabling and painful for patients suffering from them. Beyond the direct consequences of these pathologies, the relationships between TMDs and postural balance have long been known by practitioners, but there is very little solid scientific evidence of these relationships.

The aim of our work is therefore to develop research protocols to overcome these scientific hurdles and, in the longer term, tools to provide answers and solid assistance to practitioners in the treatment of these pathologies. To achieve these objectives, we will focus our project on 2 main areas:

• A parametric numerical modeling of the mandible, with work first on the TMJ and then on the morphology of the whole.
• An analysis of the impact on posture of TMDs and their treatment on a patient population.

All of this work will be based on the study of medical records (joint diagnosis by clinical examination, imaging, axiography...) of patients followed in the Occlusodontics UF of the Odontology Department of Lille University Hospital. These patients will be asked to take part in experiments designed either to provide the elements needed to develop and validate the various models, or to experimentally study the links between posture and TMDs. These motion capture and analysis protocols will study:

• Mouth opening and closing kinematics via three-dimensional (3D) motion capture, with the experimental volume centered on the head and neck. Kinematics will be expressed in a reference frame placed on the subjects' foreheads.
• Orthostatic posture, on the whole-body plane, thanks to a 3D motion capture system, synchronized with two force platforms and whose experimental volume will enable whole-body acquisition. The consortium set up for this study is multidisciplinary and complementary. It is made up of researchers and hospital practitioners from the fields of healthcare, biomechanics and life sciences.