ArticleBMJ open sport & exercise medicine2020
Effects of the lower jaw position on athletic performance of elite athletes.
Article in BMJ open sport & exercise medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Occlusal Splints and Exercise Performance: A Systematic Review of Current Evidence.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Effects of Jaw Clenching While Wearing a Bite-Aligning Mouthguard on Performance in Athletes: A Systematic Review.International journal of dentistry · 2026Review
- Dental Splints and Sport Performance: A Review of the Current Literature.Dentistry journal · 2025Review
- The effect of acute equine temporomandibular joint inflammation on response to rein-tension and kinematics.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2023Article
- Developing the role of the sports dentist.British dental journal · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
When an athlete wears a mouthguard, the position of the lower jaw is changed by virtue of the teeth being unable to occlude. Little research is available in in this area, which have indicated both positive impact and no positive impact.
objectivesThis study aims to explore the influence of the lower jaw position on athletic performance in elite athletes.
methodsA repeated measures study compared two lower jaw positions, the athlete's normal (habitual) bite and the lower jaw position when the muscles of mastication are at physiological rest (physiological rest bite). 15 athletes completed a medicine ball putt (upper body power), vertical jump (lower body power), sit and reach (composite hamstring flexibility), passive knee flexion (hamstring muscle length) and star excursion balance (stability and balance) tests in each condition.
resultsPaired t-tests showed the physiological rest bite had significant (p<0.05) positive effect on athletic performance for each test. On average the physiological rest bite provided an increase of lower body power (5.8%), upper body power (10%), hamstring flexibility (14%) and balance and stability (4.8%) compared to the habitual bite.
conclusionThis study provides evidence of the need for further research to confirm if the lower jaw position can be optimised for athletic performance in athletes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.