If you don't chew hard things for a long time, the masseter muscle will degenerate. Accordingly, if you chew hard things for a long time, the masseter muscles will become more and more developed, leading to hypertrophy of the masseter muscles and swelling of the cheeks. Therefore, we should arrange our diet reasonably. Masseter muscle is a kind of masticatory muscle, and rational use of masticatory grade can be healthier.

Extended data:

Influencing factors:

The masseter muscle is influenced by many factors, such as race, sex, age and face shape. Generally speaking, men are more developed than women, and the elderly are more developed than young people, but the decisive factor is chewing.

Because of its contraction, people who often love hard food will develop masseter muscles accordingly. For example, people who often eat beef jerky and chew gum have more developed masseter muscles than ordinary people.

If you eat hard food from an early age and chew more during adolescence, the mandible will often over-develop under its influence, forming the appearance of hypertrophy of mandibular angles such as square face and Chinese character face. At the same time, due to their mutual influence, patients with mandibular angle hypertrophy are often accompanied by masseter muscle hypertrophy.

Lateral pterygoid muscle:

The lateral pterygoid muscle is short and thick, with two heads, starting from the lower side of the sphenoid wing and the lateral side of the sphenoid pterygoid process. The muscle bundle goes backward and outward, stopping at the pterygoid fossa in front of the mandibular neck and the articular capsule and disc of the temporomandibular joint.

This muscle is dominated by branches of the anterior trunk of mandibular nerve. Function: pull the mandibular head, joint capsule and joint disc forward; Bilateral muscles contract at the same time, showing mouth opening shape and mandibular protrusion; Unilateral muscle contraction (contraction at the same time as this abdominal medial muscle) turns the chin to the opposite side, and the muscles on both sides contract alternately in this way, that is, chewing movement is completed.

Pterygium:

The medial pterygoid muscle mainly comes from the medial surface of pterygoid lateral plate and the pyramidal process of palatine bone, and also comes from maxillary tubercle. The lower fasciculus of the lateral pterygoid muscle is clamped at both ends and travels downward and outward, stopping at the bone surface behind the hyoid groove on the inner surface of the mandibular branch.

This muscle is dominated by mandibular nerve branches. Function: lift the maxilla and pull it forward; The medial and lateral muscles of the same wing contract at the same time, turning the chin to the opposite side.

Masticatory muscles and molars:

The chewing system is considered to have the function of managing stress. People in China often say that "biting one's teeth" is a kind of reaction through the intense contraction of masticatory muscles under certain circumstances.

The causes and prevention of grinding teeth have always been a topic of concern to everyone. Mental stress is considered to be a very important factor. Subconsciously expressing through grinding teeth may also be a way to vent emotions and relieve stress. When teething, the bilateral masseter and medial pterygoid muscles are active and asymmetrical.

To some extent, grit your teeth and bruxism are the same, the difference lies in the degree of interruption. The former involves a smaller contact surface.

At this time, the floor of the mouth and tongue are also very active. Due to the continuous excitement of the muscles, the two ends of the lateral pterygoid muscle, which were out of sync in the past, became synchronous.

The direction of this movement varies from person to person, but there is little or no Bennett movement. There are different opinions about the function of molar occlusion. The author thinks that occlusion can cause clenching teeth and grinding teeth. The similarity between them may be the feedback of environmental factors, and the grinding action caused by neuromuscular activities may be different in stimulating factors and grinding properties.

The mismatch of cusp malposition makes the central nervous system send instructions to seek the most stable cusp malposition through muscle activity, which may be one of the reasons for occlusal molars.

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