Study of the signs and symptoms of temporomandibular dysfunction in individuals with normal occlusion and malocclusion.

The signs and symptoms of temporomandibular dysfunctions were studied in a well-defined sample, divided into one group with normal occlusion and a second group with malocclusion, where the primary characteristic was Angle Class II a malocclusion with moderate to deep overbite. Each group comprised 30 individuals with a mean overall age of 22.6 years. The following were evaluated in both groups: tenderness to palpation of the muscles involved in the joint; presence of articular noises; subjective symptoms obtained via a questionnaire; and mandibular movements. The data gathered was subjected to statistical analysis and no significant differences were detected between the groups in the majority of variables studied. However, it was found that those individuals with malocclusion had a wider range of lateral movement and also complained of greater discomfort in the TMJ when compared to individuals in the normal occlusion group. The lack of uniformity between the results of this work and those of other authors may be attributed in particular to variations in age of the sample populations studied.