Volume 24 - Issue 3

The magic of modern medicine has given us remarkable benefits for patients suffering from serious diseases with improvements in both the quality and quantity of their lives. As with most new agents, side effects often emerge of which we must be aware. As you undoubtedly know, since late 2003 there have been a large number of reports regarding bisphosphonate associated osteonecrosis of the jaws. This was the subject of a position paper by the Academy ...

“Oral health is inextricably linked to an individual's overall health and well-being.” This is the message postulated by the American Dental Association as the ADA and the American Medical Association (AMA) began their media briefing held on February 23, 2006 entitled “Oral and Systemic Health: Exploring the Connection.”  “Who benefits from medicine and dentistry working together? The patient!” stated ADA Executive Director James Bramson as he kicked off the joint media conference hosted by ...

Simultaneous recording of excursive function and muscle activity on 62 MPDS patients demonstrated that reducing prolonged disclusion time (1.4 seconds per excursion) to short disclusion time (0.41 seconds per excursion) created a therapeutic effect such that within one month’s time following treatment, there was an observed increase in the maximal clenching capacity of the masseter and temporalis muscles. This clinical treatment effect appears to be the result of decreased ischemia in these ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of occlusal factors to determine the extent of their role in temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Two groups were selected: a patient group (I) of 100 patients with TMD problems (pain and clicking) and a control group (II) of 100. Each individual had to have 28 permanent teeth. A clinical evaluation was conducted and the models were evaluated according to the criteria of the Angle Classes and ...

The purpose of this study was to clarify which direction of jaw movement is advantageous for releasing TMJ intermittent lock. The subjects included ten patients with TMJ intermittent lock who could not open their mouths fully in habitual opening paths (habitual opening), but could open fully in intentionally winding opening paths (winding opening). The following movements were analyzed: habitual opening, winding opening, lateral border opening to the contralateral side (contralateral opening), lateral border opening to ...

Loose ligaments are often a predisposing factor of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders. This causal factor was analyzed in 701 subjects presenting at the TMJ and Posture Center of Siena University with TMJ pain or dysfunction. Along with the conventional jaw examination, a Carter and Wilkinson test as modified by Beighton was also done. We found a correlation among the parameters of age, gender, TMJ disorder, joint pain, muscle pain, and loose ligaments.

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that strengthening masticatory muscles using a controlled chewing exercise protocol improves muscle function, as evaluated quantitatively by electromyogram, and reduces pain at rest and during function. The study included 20 patients diagnosed with myofascial pain according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders with low masseter volume increase during maximal clench. The exercise group (ten patients) was subjected to a controlled gum chewing exercise ...

Sleep bruxism (SB) has been believed to be related to stress and psychosocial factors, however their implicit relationship has remained unclear. This study was conducted on patients visiting our clinic with SB and masticatory muscle disorders (MMD) for the purpose of clarifying personality and behavioral traits. This study was conducted on patients of MMD visiting our clinic. The Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration study was performed on each patient. Twenty-seven (27) patients were divided into two groups: 17 ...

The precision of speech articulation is related to the possibility and freedom of the mandibular movements, modifying the spaces in order to allow the different articulatory positions of each sound. Electrognathography allows the objective delineation and registration of the mandibular movements, determining the level of opening, translations and velocity of these movements. Its use is a resource that can establish quantitative diagnostic parameters. The aim of this study was to verify the amplitude, velocity and ...

The aim was to test the hypothesis that inaudible vibrations with significant amounts of energy increasing during jaw movements can be recorded in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) area. Twenty one subjects, who could perform wide opening movements without feeling discomfort, 12 with and 9 without TMJ sounds audible at conventional auscultation with a stethoscope, were included. Recordings were made during opening-closing, 2/s without tooth contact, and during mandibular rest, using accelerometers with a flat ...

There are multiple factors in cases of mandibular hypomobility. One of these factors is elongated coronoid process. Two cases are presented to illustrate elongated coronoid process leading to mandibular hypomobility to help prevent misdiagnosis by clinicians. Coronoid process elongation is a rare condition. Both cases reported here had pulpitis on the teeth, however endodontic treatment could not be performed due to the restricted mouth opening in both cases. There were clinical findings of restricted range ...

To examine the effects of botulinum toxin injection application for the treatment of upper airway obstruction due to hyperactive lateral pterygoid muscle contraction, we applied botulinum toxin injection. A 20 year-old male patient had involuntary mouth opening after a diabetic coma. His mouth opened excessively (84 mm) particularly when he was in a nervous or stressed condition. This resulted in a bilateral temporomandibular dislocation and, consequently, upper airway collapse. The differential diagnosis of jaw-opening oromandibular ...