Abstract
Purpose: We conducted this study in order to define the methods of treatment that are beneficial for TMD patients by the comparison of the characteristics of TMD patients between prosthodontic clinic (PD-C) and special clinics for TMD (TMD-C).
Methods: Clinical records that had been preserved in a database of 253 new TMD patients treated in PD-C were compared with 404 new TMD patients treated in TMD-C. Items of sex, age, chief complaint, present observations, diagnostic categories, treatment methods and treatment outcome were investigated. The chi-square test was used for comparison of the items in two groups (StatMateIII for Windows).
Results: The TMD patients in both groups were characterized as being a high female-to-male ratio. Most symptoms were pain of TMJ and masticatory muscles as the chief complaint and present observations. According to the diagnostic categories, there were the most Type I conditions (masticatory muscle disorders) in PD-C and the most Type III conditions (disc disorders) in TMD-C. Treatment consisted of mostly splint therapy (81%) in PD-C, and patient education (67%) and physiotherapy (64%) in TMD-C. Thirty percent of the patients in PD-C and 42% of those in TMD-C were completely healed, thus showing that the treatment outcome of TMD-C was superior.
Conclusion: We reached the conclusions that the treatment outcome of TMD patients was superior, as we provided patient education such as prohibition of tooth contact and orofacial parafunctions, and physiotherapy such as jaw opening stretches. Clinicians who treat TMD patients should choose patient education and physiotherapy as their first approach.
