Gnathological postural treatment in a professional basketball player: a case report and an overview of the role of dental occlusion on performance.

AIMS During competitions and training many professional athletes use to wear occlusal splints to improve their sports performance. However, notwithstanding some studies concluded that achieving a balanced cranial-occlusal system could bring to an improvement of sports performances, the results are still contrasting. Probably the gnathological postural treatment of athletes has greater influence on performance when the individual suffers of Temporomandibular Joint Disfunction (TMJ) or physio-postural pathologies owing to the consequent alteration of the "tonic-postural system". This clinical case details a gnathological postural approach to a professional basketball player suffering from muscular problems related to the stomatognathic apparatus and a low back pain unresolved with the only physiotherapy, which limited her performance. METHODS Force platform and T-Scan III appliances were used in order to check the postural and occlusal condition of the athlete and as an aid to clinical parameters in achieving a correct splint balance. RESULTS After the treatment involving inserting an occlusal splint and physiotherapy sessions, the patient no longer complained of low back pain problems and the symptoms associated with the stomatognathic apparatus improved considerably. In particular, after the tests carried out on an isokinetic machine, a force increase related to the quadriceps muscles was detected when the patient was wearing the occlusal splint. CONCLUSIONS All athletes must however be analysed individually and carefully with clinical and instrumental analyses in order to consider the possible real effectiveness of an occlusal splint for improving postural structure and sports performance.