Association of Handedness and Maximum Voluntary Bite Force on Respective Side of Oral Cavity

Introduction: The aim of the study was to explore the difference between handedness and bite force among general population. Method: Bite force was recorded with an Occlusal Bite force meter (GM-10 Nagano Keiki Japan). A mean of three left sided and a mean of three right sided maximum voluntary bite forces were calculated and a final mean of the two were taken to find out the Mean Maximum Voluntary Bite force. The data was entered and analyzed in SPSS version 25.0. As descriptive statistics, percentage of gender distribution was calculated. Later on, Paired sample t test and independent sample t test was used to explore the bite force difference among right and left handed participants. Results: Paired sample t test used to calculate between group difference of Bite Force which was found to be significant (t= 2.895, P=.005). The results of independent sample t test revealed a significant difference between the handedness and the average force bite from left side of mouth (t (2, 68) = -3.08, P=.003). The results for the comparison of average bite force from right side of mouth and handedness was also found significant (t (2, 68) = 2.36, P=.02). Conclusion: The study explored the difference of handedness with the bite force which was found to be significant. The results explained that right handed people have higher bite force at right side of mouth on chewing whereas left handed people apply more force while biting with left side of mouth as compared to right side. This was the new finding explored by performing this study.