Prosthetic treatment of TMD-related occlusal dysfunction

Abstract

The basic management of TMD should begin with explanation of the pathophysiology and home-care instruction, followed by non-invasive treatment, mainly physical therapy, pharmacotherapy, and appliance therapy. Since occlusal therapy has no advantage over reversible therapy, any treatment that irreversibly alters occlusion should be avoided.

On the other hand, there are cases in which patients present with secondary occlusal disorders, such as an anterior open bite, after temporomandibular joint disorders have healed, and prosthetic treatment is required when patients complain of severe masticatory disorders.

This paper focuses on three points: 1) Current treatment concepts for TMD, 2) Symptom-specific methods of using occlusal appliances, and 3) Prosthetic treatment of TMD-related occlusal dysfunction.