Measurement of myoelectric silent period parameters: evaluation of an automatized algorithm

Electromyography is used in dentistry to assess the relationship of craniomandibular muscle activity, facial morphology and occlusal stability. Myoelectric silent periods are used in clinical diagnostics and treatment follow-up. Rather complicated instrumentation is demanded for silent-period parameter measurement. Supported with appropriate software tools, measurement procedures become less demanding. In this paper, an automated silent-period parameter measurement algorithm is described and validated on signals recorded from jaw-closing muscles. Compared to the measurement results of an expert, the parameter values obtained by the algorithm show a good match in 65% of the evaluated signals.