Volume 25 - Issue 2

Fragmentation of the groups treating TMJ disorders has been a continuous problem in dentistry, with consensus ever eluding us as we consider the occlusal aspects of our treatment. There have been personality cults often bordering on the religious. The orthodontic community now claims that orthodontics has nothing to do with TMJ disorders, the AOP has adopted a medical/ psychological model where the patients are crazy, occlusion therapy is a myth or fraud upon the public ...

As with serving good scotch . . . I’m going to give it to you straight. Webster’s dictionary defines an expert as someone “having, involving, or displaying special skill or knowledge derived from training or experience.”  When we graduated from our professional training programs, we were considered experts in our respective disciplines. I was an expert in general dentistry. Through training and clinical exercises, I had developed the skills to evaluate and treat the majority of ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in the posterior airway space in patients following Biobloc therapy, using geometric morphometrics. Pre- and post-treatment lateral cephalographs of 53 children (mean age, 12.9±1.5 years; mean treatment time, 21.3±6.2 months) were scanned and 27 landmarks encompassing the airway were digitized. Mean configurations were computed using Procrustes superimposition, followed by principal components analysis (PCA) and finite-element scaling analysis (FESA). Marked shape-changes ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between incisor and condyle movement during protrusion in children with primary dentition. Subjects were categorized into two age  groups. A primary dentition group consisted of 20 children, and a permanent dentition group consisted of 25 women. The occlusion and TMJ in both groups were normal, with no history of orthodontic treatment. Three orthogonal excursive ranges, linear distance and curvilinear distance of the incisal and condylar ...

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether a relationship exists between posture of the head and neck, and the presence of certain malocclusal problems. Dental models, in addition to lateral cephalometric radiographs, taken in the “natural head position” of 180 male and female subjects were obtained. The postural angles between the head and the cervical column, termed craniovertical, craniocervical, cervicohorizontal, and cervical curvature, were measured. The malocclusal traits studied were: molar relation ...

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of canine guidance and group function on supra- and infrahyoid EMG activity in the lateral decubitus position at different jaw posture tasks. The sample included 40 healthy subjects with natural dentition and bilateral molar support, 20 with bilateral canine guidance and 20 with bilateral group function. An inclusion criterion was that subjects had to be free of signs and symptoms of any dysfunction of the ...

Temporomandibular Disorder (TMD) is a term generally applied to a condition or conditions characterized by pain and/or dysfunction of the masticatory apparatus. Its characterization has been difficult because of the large number of symptoms and signs attributed to this disorder and to variation in the number and types manifested in any particular patient. For this study, data on 4,528 patients, presenting over a period of 25 years to a single examiner for TMD ...

Several studies have reported an involvement of the stomatognathic system in the course of fibromyalgia (FM) similar to that which characterizes temporomandibular disorders (TMD). The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the clinical features of stomatognathic dysfunction in patients with FM and TMD. Ninety-three FM patients underwent an assessment according to the RDC/TMD guidelines. Prevalence of the different RDC/TMD diagnoses and some clinical parameters of FM patients were compared with ...

Fracture of the tympanic plate resulting from posterior dislocation of the mandibular condyle is an uncommon diagnosis. Presented is a clinical case in which computerized tomography was used as a diagnostic resource in a conservative therapeutic and clinical controlled one-year study. A review of the literature revealed 23 cases clinically reported with symptoms, diagnosis, and types of therapy utilized.

High velocity motor vehicle accidents are associated with an increase in mortality rates and a significant number of facial injuries. Accidental deployment of airbags and the associated release of hot gases can result in both thermal and mechanical injuries. The more commonly reported maxillofacial injuries include temporomandibular joint fractures and dislocations,1 dental trauma,2 facial nerve paralysis,3 and other orofacial pain complaints. The following case report describes a patient with facial trauma from ...

The osteogenesis imperfecta congenita (OMIM 166210) type II phenotype can be caused by mutation in either the COL1A1 gene or the COL1A2 gene that encode the chains of type I procollagen, the major protein in bones. Patients can therefore present a combination of features, including multiple long bone fractures and deformities, growth deficiency, joint laxity, hearing loss, blue sclera, and dentinogenesis imperfecta. The purpose of this study is to describe a clinical case of this ...