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Updated: Jul 13, 2026
Temporomandibular Joint Pain Measurement by Bite Force and Von Frey Filament Assays in Mice
Published on: September 13, 2024
Masticatory muscle activity during maximum voluntary clench in different research diagnostic criteria for
Gianluca M Tartaglia1, Marco Antonio Moreira Rodrigues da Silva, Stefano Bottini
1Functional Anatomy Research Center (FARC), Laboratorio di Anatomia Funzionale dell'Apparato Stomatognatico (LAFAS), Dipartimento di Morfologia Umana, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università Degli Studi, Via Mangiagalli 31, I-20133 Milano, Italy.
Abstract:
The research diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders (RDC/TMD) are used for the classification of patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Surface electromyography of the right and left masseter and temporalis muscles was performed during maximum teeth clenching in 103 TMD patients subdivided according to the RDC/TMD into 3 non-overlapping groups: (a) 25 myogenous; (b) 61 arthrogenous; and (c) 17 psycogenous patients. Thirty-two control subjects matched for sex and age were also measured. During clenching, standardized total muscle activities (electromyographic potentials over time) significantly differed: 131.7 microV/muVs % in the normal subjects, 117.6 microV/microVs % in the myogenous patients, 105.3 microV/microVs % in the arthrogenous patients, 88.7 microV/microVs % in the psycogenous patients (p<0.001, analysis of covariance). Symmetry in the temporalis muscles was larger in normal subjects (86.3%) and in myogenous patients (84.9%) than in arthrogenous (82.7%), and psycogenous patients (80.5%) (p=0.041). No differences were found for masseter muscle symmetry and torque coefficient (p>0.05). Surface electromyography of the masticatory muscles allowed an objective discrimination among different RDC/TMD subgroups. This evaluation could assist conventional clinical assessments.
