This paper reports the results of the treatment of 100 patients with temporomandibular joint arthrosis, (30 males and 70 females), under our department's guidelines for masticatory patterns during the period from April 1992 to September 1996. The subjects under observation consisted of 78 cases (24 males, 54 females) from their first examination until prognostic observation 2 weeks later, and 22 non-examinees. The guidelines for masticatory patterns were applied as described in the manual prepared by our department. The essential requirements were as follows: for a morsel of boiled rice, patients were told to masticate twenty times slowly and to savor its taste before swallowing it. Symptomatic improvement was observed in 60% of patients 2 weeks later, increasing to 72, 80 and 100% 1, 2 and 3 months later, respectively. The improvement was also obtained even in cases of malocclusion or long suffering. By symptoms, masticatory muscle group pain was relieved and the combination of trismus and masticatory muscle group pain declined sooner than the combination of trismus (and/or masticatory muscle group pain) with temporomandibular murmur. These results suggest that masticatory organic dysfunction due to current rough masticatory habits, and especially disuse lesion (atrophy) of the masticatory muscle group, seems to be implicated in the pathogenesis of temporomandibular joint arthrosis.
