Stomatognathic function in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and in developmental open-bite subjects

Patients affected with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis present clear radiolog ical alterations of the condyles of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) due t o the inflammatory process, with a prevalence ranging from 17 percent to 63 percent. This work is a comparison between a group of subjects with juvenile rheumat oid arthritis presenting signs and symptoms of TMT dysfunction and a group of the same age not suffering from any rheumatic morbidity, but presenting an open bite > 3 mm. The aim is to verify whether the open bite can induce an alteration in mand ibular function comparable to that observed in juvenile rheumatoid arthriti s. Statistically significant difference is found in the juvenile rheumatoid ar thritis group only regarding spontaneous and provoked muscle pain and the l ateral opening deviations of the mouth, but mostly the two groups seem alik e and present the same stomatognathic pattern.