Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis with temporomandibular joint involvement: functional treatment.

AIM: Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis is a disease that can involve the temporomandibular joint unilaterally or bilaterally causing specific malocclusions.

CASE REPORT: This paper reports a case of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis in an 8-year-old male with unilateral involvement of the temporomandibular joint, with remarkable asymmetry of the left mandible and reduced left facial height. The management of the temporomandibular damage consisted in the treatment with an activator in order to help mandibular ramus growth with a subsequent enhancement in occlusion, masticatory function and profile. This treatment has several advantages and permits to correct the typical malocclusion exhibited by these patients, to improve the clinical signs of the disease and to obtain stability over time.