Autoimmune temporomandibular arthropathy: diagnostic considerations.

The etiology of degenerative processes of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) remains unclear, as they could be the result of trauma, infection, or autoimmune disease. Improving the diagnosis of autoimmune disease, whether the TMJ is the primary site or secondarily affected by a systemic disease, is of fundamental importance in selecting treatment that will address the causes rather than just relieve the symptoms. The purposes of this article are to discuss autoimmunity as an etiologic factor in degenerative processes of the TMJ by presenting clinical cases and to highlight the importance of imaging and serologic examinations for diagnosis.

Structural lesions of the TMJ in relation to Mycoplasma pneumonia infections.

Aims: The presence of different types of bacteria in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is considered an etiological factor in TMJ pathologies. Mycoplasma pneumonia (MP), for instance, can be present in different joint pathologies. The aim of the present study is to correlate pathognomonic imaging of the TMJ in nuclear magnetic resonance with laboratory tests for MP.

Stomatognathic system involvement in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Aims: Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and stomatognathic system involvement are usually observed during the course of rheumatoid arthritis.

Methodology: This article presents the findings during examination of 190 TMJs from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, and 44 TMJs from controls without RA, including a description of signs and symptoms related to the stomatognathic system, radiological findings in hands-, and TMJ, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) values, and scores obtained in the Disease Activity Score (Das 28) and the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ).

Results: The sample included 57.

Application of a cephalometric method to the temporomandibular joint in patients with or without alteration in the orientation of the mandibular condyle axis.

In a prior study, the spatial relationship of the mandibular condyle was studied through a cephalogram based on laminographies of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). The present method was developed with the aim of analyzing TMJ morphology and the spatial relationship of the mandibular head within the mandibular fossa, considering references far from these structures, as they may suffer shape alterations. This study was conducted in view of the importance of the study of morphology and the hard structures relationship, which constitutes the temporomandibular joint.

Electromyographic evaluation of the 'vertical' dimension: the Learreta TMJ decompression test.

The clinical observation of the incisors overbite is the most common form used to evaluate the occlusal vertical dimension (OVD); however, this technique offers poor information about the compression state of the TMJ. In order to obtain such information, it is necessary to evaluate the electrical activity of the elevator muscles using surface electromyography (EMG). In case of a compressive irritation of the joint receptors, the trigeminal nucleus returns an inhibitory motor response of the elevator muscles that can be measured.

HLA analysis in patients with degenerative diseases of the temporomandibular joint.

The aim of this study was to determine the presence of HLA alleles, specifically HLA-DR alleles, and to correlate them with clinical and radiological features of patients with degenerative processes (DP) of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). The final goal was to determine which allele can be used to identify patients having more aggressive forms of the articular pathologies. Thirty-two (32) Caucasian patients with DP of the TMJ were included in the study.

Temporomandibular joint method to study the morphology and relationship of the hard structures.

Different methods have been suggested to study mandibular condylar position. These methods are based on the study of the joint space between the condylar head surface and the glenoid fossa. In all of these methods, joint structures were always regarded as healthy and in ideal shape, a fact that we know to be not always true.

Current diagnosis of temporomandibular pathologies.

The current scientific knowledge of TMJ pathologies points to the importance of etiological research and the need for differential diagnosis using the most modem technological resources. Those include MRI, computed tomography, serologic studies, genetic mapping, and bioelectronic instruments which allow clinicians to study, understand, and measure respectively, the structural changes of soft and hard tissues, infections, genetic susceptibility for autoimmune diseases, and stomatognathic function. The purpose of this article is an overview of the current knowledge and related tools for the diagnosis of TMJ pathologies.

Muscular activity disorders in relation to intentional occlusal interferences.

The electromyographic activity (EMG) of the anterior temporal (AT), masseter (M), trapezius (T) muscles and anterior aspect of the digastric (D) was measured in 50 subjects, during six seconds of maximum contraction, bilaterally with and without unilateral premature contacts and individually for each tooth. Special occlusal interferences were designed to assess muscular activity. Muscular activity was measured simultaneously by placing premature contacts on each tooth, under T-Scan monitoring.

Computer-aided diagnoses of chronic head pain: explanation, study data, implications, and challenges.

The differential diagnosis of diseases and disorders having head pain as a symptom is often a difficult challenge for health care professionals. The complexity of this problem, the need for computer aided diagnosis, and the assumptions upon which one diagnostic software program was developed are discussed. A database driven user-oriented Internet website was offered at no charge to headache sufferers, and this vehicle provided the data source for research.

The identification of temporomandibular joint disease through the masticatory cycle.

The purpose of this study was to determine, by analyzing the masticatory cycle, the presence of TMJ disease prior to initiating any orthodontic treatment. Masticatory data from 80 pre-orthodontic patients were recorded in the frontal and sagittal planes and then analyzed and compared with the pre-established healthy masticatory data of Maruyama et al. 40% of the sample group presented with signs and/or symptoms of masticatory dysfunction and/or temporomandibular joint abnormalities (TMJA).