Features of the Support Function of the Feet in Children with Congenital Abnormalities and Acquired Deformities of the Mandibular Bones

Various types of dental disocclusion lead to disorders in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and subsequent abnormalities in the tone of the muscles of mastication. Prolonged dysfunction of the stomatognathic system leads to disorders in adaptation of the total musculoskeletal system, while the mechanism of this effect remains unclear. Plantographic characteristics of the feet were studied in nine children with stable deformities of the mandibular bones of a congenital or acquired genesis, and the distribution of plantar pressure was examined after reconstructive operations on the jaws and partial correction of occlusion. The plantographic characteristics were compared with those obtained in the same tests for 15 healthy children of the same age. Before surgery, the planthograms in tests with increasing load in the children with combined dentofacial and facial deformities differed in stiffness of all arches from the plantograms of the healthy children. Stiffness resulted in a significant increase in lateral support index, while the frontal and medial support indices were unchanged. After reconstructive surgery on the jaw(s) with restoration of the size, shape, and spatial position in the facial part of the skull, the support function of the external longitudinal arch of the foot recovered in the patients, but its recovery was accompanied by an increase in the rigidity of the transversal and internal longitudinal arches. Thus, the support function of the arches of the feet was disordered in children with stable deformity of the mandibular bones, and a change in biomechanical strategy was observed after reconstructive surgery.