Title: A Study on Relation between Posterior Missing Teeth and Temperomandibular Disorders
Authors: R.Prithi, D.Pradeep
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v4i8.51
AIM: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the number of missing posterior teeth are associated with TMD. BACKGROUND: Loss of posterior teeth, especially when the number of missing teeth is small, may exert secondary changes, including drifting and tipping of the remaining teeth. The former is the medial or distal movement of a tooth through a stable alveolar ridge, and the latter is the movement from a line perpendicular to the alveolar segment. The result of drifting and tipping is the exhibition of secondary changes in occlusal contact, called ‘tightly locked occlusion’. This could have an effect on TMJ. METHOD AND MATERIAL: This study was conducted at Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Chennai. A sample size of 50 partially edentulous patients were included in the study. A questionnaire was provided to the patients to fill in their personnel details like age , gender, while other clinical details corresponding to the patient was recorded and filled by the investigator. RESULT: The result in this study is that, out of 50 individuals women were 23 and men were 27 in numbers respectively. Clicking sound were found in 17.39% and male were 11.1%. Pain was found to be present in 65.2% females and 40.7% males. Unilateral chewing preferences was found to be 73.9% in females and 33.3% in males , while bilateral preference was found in 26.08% females and 66.6% in males. Deviation of mandible was found to be in 47.8% of females and 37.03% of males. CONCLUSION: Symptoms and signs of TMD were associated with loss of posterior teeth among subjects included in the study. The number of subjects who reported TMD symptoms seemed to decrease and those who had TMD signs increased with increasing age. The number of missing posterior teeth increased with age, and was significantly associated with TMD signs and symptoms. Although more women reported symptoms, posterior teeth loss was associated with TMD signs especially among men. KEY WORDS: missing posterior teeth, malocclusion, temperomandibular disorder.
Abstract
