Electronic thermography for the assessment of mild and moderate temporomandibular joint dysfunction

Today facial heat emission patterns may be rapidly obtained and quantified with the use of advanced electronic thermography units that have the promise of being a nonionizing, noninvasive, low-cost diagnostic alternative for the evaluation of temporomandibular joint disorders. This study design measured the use of electronic thermography as a tool to select between asymptomatic (control) subjects and a patient group with mild to moderate temporomandibular joint disorders. Study populations consisted of 24 asymptomatic (control) subjects and 20 patients with (1) either locked or unlocked temporomandibular joints, (2) varying degrees of limitation of mouth opening, (3) mild to moderate muscle pain, and (4) mild to moderate temporomandibular joint arthralgia. The results indicated that the control group demonstrated a high level of thermal symmetry over the temporomandibular joint region. The patient group demonstrated a low level of thermal symmetry with a delta T value of 0.4 degrees C. The control group was selected from the patient group with 85% sensitivity (17 of 20), and 92% specificity (22 of 24), and 89% overall accuracy (39 of 44), when selecting among the 44 subjects used in this study. The conclusion therefore is that electronic thermography shows promise as a method of diagnosing mild to moderate temporomandibular joint disorders.