Screening for temporomandibular disorders in dental practice

A simple screening procedure to determine evidence of a temporomandibular disorder (TMD) in a patient is presented. The current view is that dentists are responsible for the recognition and management of these disorders. The dentist should therefore perform a TMD screening examination on every patient and document the patient's functional status. If this is not known then it is impossible to discuss with the patient the possible implications of proposed dental treatment which could potentially worsen a pre-existing TMD. Unless functional status is documented and informed consent obtained from the patient prior to proceeding with dental treatment, the dentist may be held liable should TMD problems develop during or after the treatment.