Abstract
The aims of this study was to clarify the role of malocclusion in causing the TMJ dysfunction syndrome in adolecents based on the relationship among malocclusion, morphological aspect of jaw and face and clinical condition.
The subjects were forty outpatients with TMJ dysfunction syndrome, aged 11-20 years old, who visited the Pedodontic Clinic of Kagoshima University, Dental Hospital.
The following results were obtained from the study of study casts, lateral and posteroanterior rentogenocephalograms, and the standadized full-face photographs.
1) The TMJ dysfunction group possesed a characteristic craniofacial morphology as follows: The mandibular ramus and corpus were smaller and shorter by comparison with the control group. In particular, the Gonial angle in the TMJ dysfunction group was greater than in the control group.
2) The direction of the scal-down of the mandibular in the TMJ dysfunction group was down and backward.
3) The Tooth to Denture base Discrepancy value and crowding score in TMJ dysfunction group was higher than in the control group. It was suggested that these findings were caused by the scale-down of the mandibular in TMJ dysfunction group.
4) The tooth to denture base discrepancy in the maxillar did not exist in the TMJ dysfunction Group by comparison with the control group. However, the crowding score of the maxillar was high. In view of all the results of this study, it was surmised that these findings were caused by the adaptation of the maxillar dentition to the small mandibular dentition.
