Introduction:

The relationship between posture and temporomandibular disorders (TMD) has been studied for decades, and it has not been possible to provide strong evidence in any sense. The objective of this study was systemically reviewed and quantitatively synthesized (via meta-analysis) existing evidence on the posture and TMD relationship.

Material and method:

A search was made in the electronic resources Pubmed, Lilacs, Sciencedirect, Scielo, Pedro, and the Cochrane Library of analytical observational cohort, case and control and/or cross-sectional studies that assess the relationship between posture and TMD, published since 2012, in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Two reviewers checked the methodological quality.

Results:

Eight articles were finally selected and assessed. Five found relationship, while three did not find it. The meta-analysis did not yield enlightening results either, although it seems to indicate that there may be differences in the eye-tragus-“horizontal plane” angle, and this is slightly lower in healthy subjects compared to a group of TMD subjects.

Conclusion:

It cannot be established that there is strong scientific evidence on the relationship between posture and TTM, due to the parity of the number of studies with results in both senses and the methodological quality of the published articles.

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