CHARACTERISTIC CHEWING PARAMETERS FOR SPECIFIC TYPES OF TEMPOROMANDIBULAR-JOINT INTERNAL DERANGEMENTS

In older to determine a there are characteristic chewing patterns for specific types of TMJ internal derangements, chewing was analyzed in 2 10 TMD patients with unilateral internal derangement (MDR early, 40; M DR late, 41; MD, 80; MDP, 49), and in 94 TMD patients without internal derangement, and 10 asymptomatic subjects with normal TMJ imaging, Ea ch internal derangement subgroup demonstrated a significantly restrict ed envelope of motion and a reduced chewing velocity especially when t hey chewed on their normal TMJ side. Comparing different types of inte rnal derangement, the MDR early group demonstrated relatively normal c hewing, while the MDR late, MD and MDP groups showed severely impaired chewing movements. Among these three groups, the MD group demonstrate d the most impairment, followed by the MDP and the MDR late groups, Th ese results demonstrate that different types of internal derangement h ave specific impairments upon chewing, suggesting use of this analysis as a diagnostic tool.