Electromyographic relaxed mandibular position in long-faced subjects

Previous articles have presented conflicting results concerning the relationship of EMG rest position in subjects with varying craniofacial morphology. This study sought to resolve the issue by studying long-faced subjects and controlling head position. Our findings showed that long-faced subjects have large EMG rest positions in contrast to the results reported by Wessberg et al.² We were not able to resolve the differences between these two studies by variation in head position or lack of consistent sample population. The results of this study and earlier studies question the clinical practice of using EMG rest as a starting point to establish vertical dimension of occlusion.