Research Diagnostic criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders: current status & future relevance

The Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD), published in 1992, was based on international expert recommendations and available empirical data. The major rationale was to offer a putative diagnostic and classification system whose reliability, validity and clinical usefulness for TMD diagnosis and classification could be scientifically evaluated and then revised using an evidence-based model for successive iterations. The present journal issue attests to the accomplishment of that major objective: the RDC/TMD has been translated into 18 languages and used very extensively in international research. One important component of that research has been to yield reliable and valid data resulting in an evidence-based revision of the RDC/TMD now available for continuing research and clinical application. The present article offers recommendations and speculations regarding how the RDC/TMD may continue to serve the function of guiding future research and, most importantly, serve as an evidence-based diagnostic and classification system to aid in the rational choice of clinical care for TMD sufferers around the world.