Craniomandibular dysfunction in children with clefts and noncleft children with and without unpleasant life events: a...

An epidemiologic study was conducted to investigate any difference in the prevalence of signs and symptoms of craniomandibular dysfunction on children with clefts and noncleft children with and without unpleasant life events. The experimental group consisted of thirty white children six to ten years of age with unilateral cleft lip and cleft lip and palate. On the basis of the sex and age distribution of the experimental group 30 out of 25 white children without unpleasant life events and 30 out of 105 white children with unpleasant life events were selected as control group I and control group II, respectively. The results showed statistically significant difference in the prevalence of temporomandibular joint tenderness between experimental and control group I, while the difference between experimental and control group II was not significant. Statistically significant difference in the frequency of temporomandibular joint tenderness was also revealed between the control groups. With respect to the severity of the symptoms, the only statistically significant difference was that of the anamnestic dysfunction index with severe symptoms (AiII) between the experimental and control group I. The other differences were not significant. The present study suggests that children with clefts and those with unpleasant life events run a greater risk of developing temporomandibular joint tenderness.