Disclusion time measurement studies: stability of disclusion time--a 1-year follow-up

Six of seven women were recalled after 1 year to remeasure their right- and left-side working disclusion times. Before the occlusal adjustment technique known as immediate complete anterior guidance development (ICAGD), these patients presented lengthy mean disclusion times (> 1.0 second) and multiple chronic myofascial pain dysfunction syndrome (MPDS) symptoms. After ICAGD, these patients presented with short mean disclusion times (< 0.7 second) and no chronic MPDS symptoms were observed. At 1-year follow-up, there was no statistical difference between present measurements of disclusion time and those of 1 year earlier. In addition, all six posttreatment patients demonstrated no observed chronic MPDS symptoms. However, the symptom of nocturnal bruxism appeared to recur with some chronic regularity. These results suggest that, for this population, disclusion time was stable over the 1-year period of observation, and the short disclusion time appears to allow normal daily muscle function with significantly lessened appearance of chronic myofacial pain dysfunction symptoms.