Prevalence, interrelation, and severity of signs of dysfunction from masticatory system in 14-16-year-old Danish...

A clinical evaluation of the functional status of the masticatory system was performed on 706 14-16-yr-old children who had received a minimum of 9 yr regular dental care and had only natural teeth. Applying a classification system developed for this specific age group, 19% were assigned to the group with moderate and 11% to the group with severe disturbances. An analysis of the association between the signs of dysfunction revealed that TMJ clicking was always associated with some but not necessarily numerous palpatory findings. The localizations of the TMJ clickings were related to specific signs of dysfunction from the masticatory system. Restriction of movement capacity of 2 standard deviations was frequently found as an isolated phenomenon, whereas restriction of 3 standard deviations was always associated with either palpatory findings or sounds from the joints.