Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the occlusal change due to the exfoliation of primary teeth and TMD symptoms in primary school children, and to investigate the changes of TMD symptoms for three years in junior high school and high school adolescents. There were 105 subjects in primary school, 277 in junior high school, and 276 in high school.
The results obtained were as follows:
1. The children who were found to have TMD symptoms in the first year of observation, for 3rd- to 5th-school-year children in primary school, totaled 105. In 41.0% of them, the TMD symptoms continued in the second year of observation, for 4th- to 6th-school-year children, whereas 59.0% of the symptoms disappeared.
2. Children whose second primary molars exfoliated, and then the second permanent molars erupted, had disappearance of TMD symptoms.
3. As for the rate of continuing TMD symptoms for three years, it was higher in high school adolescents compared with junior high school students, especially in girls.
Three findings suggest that it is necessary to periodically examine the changes of TMD symptoms and occlusal changes of children and adolescents who are identified in school dental examinations.
