[The involvement of the temporomandibular joints in systemic lupus erythematosus]

Seventy-three patients with systemic lupus erythematosus were examined, in 55 (75%) of whom involvement of the temporomandibular joint was detected, this involvement occurring at the debut of the disease, before involvement of other joints, in 44 subjects. The disease presented as ephemeral migrating asymmetrical arthralgia, more expressed by the evening hours, and, rarely, as temporomandibular arthritis and painful (functional) contractures. A frequent dissociation between the clinical and x-ray signs of the disease, no residual phenomena were observed. X-Ray examination can effectively rule out other diseases of the temporomandibular joint, first of all, destructive genesis.