Mandibular dysfunction in 10-18 year old school children as related to morphological malocclusion

An association was sought between certain morphologic characteristics of malocclusion--Angle classification, over-bite, over-jet, open-bite, cross-bite and crowding--and the presence or absence of three cardinal symptoms of mandibular dysfunction--joint sounds, joint sensitivity to palpation and muscle sensitivity--in a sample of 369 Israeli school children. In addition, two additional independent variables, 'occlusal wear' and 'previous orthodontic treatment' were introduced into the statistical analysis. Occlusal wear and abnormal overbite were the only factors found to increase significantly the presence of dysfunction symptoms.