PURPOSE: to establish the relationship between different types of dental malocclusions and lateralization and protrusion measures and mouth opening in normal adult subjects. METHODS: it was made with 127 military men who served at the 21st Supply Deposit of Brazilian Army, in Sao Paulo, in 2005, with ages between 18 and 32 years. 47 subjects were excluded. Because of that, the final sample counted with 80 individuals whom has been divided in two groups: control group (31 - 38.75%) and experimental group (49 - 61.25%). On the evaluation, both a brief anamnesis and oral inspection with measurement of the mandibular movements (mouth opening, protrusion and right and left lateralization) were done. RESULTS: 69.38% malocclusion Class I: 16.32% malocclusion Class II-1; 6.12% malocclusion Class II 2; 8.16% malocclusion Class III. There was no statistical significance of the mouth opening measures, related with the types of malocclusion, although greater measures had been noted on subjects with Class III malocclusion. When comparing to protrusion and lateralization measures, we noticed a statistically relevance in all groups. There was an absence of grinders in 40.42% of the subjects. CONCLUSION: there was no relationship between different types of dental malocclusions and mouth opening measures, but there was relationship between different types of dental malocclusions and lateralization and protrusion measures.
Malocclusion Angle Class I; Malocclusion Angle Class II; Malocclusion Angle Class III; Measures
