PREVALENCE OF SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF CRANIOMANDIBULAR DISORDERS AND OROFACIAL PARAFUNCTION IN 4-6-YEAR-OLD AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND CAUCASIAN CHILDREN

Children, 4-6 years old, 153 Caucasian and 50 African-American, from a pre-school and kindergarten programme in a low income industrial area , who participated in a voluntary oral health examination, were questi oned and examined for signs and symptoms of craniomandibular disorders (CMD) and of oral parafunctions. Most of the CMD signs and symptoms w ere mild. Eight per cent had recurrent (at least 1-2 times per week) T MJ pain, and 5% had recurrent neck pain, African-American children mor e often than Caucasian children (P < 0.05). Seventeen per cent had rec urrent headache. Three per cent had recurrent earache. Pain or tiredne ss in the jaws during chewing was reported by 25% of the children, mor e often by African-American than by Caucasian children (P < 0.001) and more often by girls than by boys (P < 0.05). Pain at jaw opening occu rred in 10% of the children, more often in the African-American than i n the Caucasian group (P < 0.001). Thirteen per cent of the children h ad problems in opening the mouth. Deviation during opening was observe d in 17% and reduced opening in 2%. Reduced lateral movements, locking or luxation were not observed in any child. Palpation pain was found in the lateral TMJ area in 16%, in the posterior TMJ area in 25%, in t he temporalis and masseter areas in 10%, and pain for all regions was found more often in the African-American than in the Caucasian childre n (P < 0.01). Thirty-four per cent of the African-American, and 15% of the Caucasian children admitted to having ear noises (P < 0.01). TMJ sounds, as recorded by auscultation, occurred in 48% of the children, more often in the African-American than in the Caucasian children (P < 0.001) and more often in girls than in boys (P < 0.05). Bruxism was n oted in 31% of the African-American and in 17% of the Caucasian childr en (P < 0.05). Thumb sucking was reported in 56% of the children, more in the girls than in the boys (P < 0.01). The habit was still present in 29% of the children. Fifty-five per cent had the parafunction nail biting. The results of this study showed that mild but distinct signs and symptoms of CMD already occur by the age 4-6 with slight differen ces in distribution observed between the sexes and strong differences noted between the African-American and the Caucasian races.