Clinical and sociodemographic characterization of patients with temporomandibular dysfunction of the University Hospital of Maracaibo

Objective: To describe the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of patients with temporomandibular joint ( TMJ) dysfunction at the University Hospital of Maracaibo. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted by assessing the clinical history of patients with TMJ dysfunction who underwent orthopedic treatment in the Oral Surgery Unit of the Dentistry Service of the University Hospital of Maracaibo. Information was collected on socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, origin, and occupation) and clinical findings related to the presence, location, area, beginning, frequency, cause, and duration of pain, and signs present during mandibular dynamics; additionally, a structural and functional diagnosis was made. The data were processed and analyzed using SPSS v.9. Results: 221 patients were included, with only 10% of the disorders observed in males. Regarding occupation, 39.1% worked at home and 28.3% were students. 97.2% of patients presented pain, and of these, pain was localized in 75%. During mandibular movement with maximum opening, 47.4% showed some difficulty, which was more significant in males. TMJ noises were noted in 74.9%, more often in females. In addition, the previous partial displacement of a disk with recapture presented an incidence of 66.4%. Conclusion: The prevalence of TMJ dysfunction was higher in female patients and in adulthood. Noises were present with a high frequency, as was limited mandibular movement.

Maturation of cervical vertebrae and chronological age in children and adolescents

In maxillary orthopedics and related areas, it is essential to determine patient growth peak in order to provide timely diagnosis and treatments. This requires the use of biological indicators that enable children and adolescents to be assigned to maturation stages. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between cervical vertebrae maturation stages and chronological age in children and adolescents. In this study were evaluated 93 lateral cranium radiographs of 6to 17yearold patients who visited the Postgraduate Maxillary Orthopedics Clinic at the School of Dentistry at Universidad del Zulia. Two examiners made independent assessments of cervical vertebrae maturation stage using the method described by Baccetti et al. For each stage, descriptive statistics for chronological age were evaluated, classified according to sex. In addition, parametric and nonparametric tests were performed in which p <0.05 was considered significant. Mean age of the children and adolescents studied was 9.6 years, with standard deviation 2.5 years. The correlation coefficient (r=0.771) certified a high positive correlation between bone maturation and chronological age. This correlation coefficient was highly positive for girls (r=0.858) and moderately positive for boys (r=0.688). The model obtained explains 59.4 % of the variation between bone maturation and chronological age, evidencing an average age increase of three years when maturation stage increases by approximately 1 year. The results suggest that although the degree of covariance between chronological age and matu ration stages was highly positive in this study, chronological age does not allow bone maturation to be determined precisely, since it may be influenced by genetic and/or environmental factors (AU)

En ortopedia maxilar y áreas afines resulta esencial determinar el pico de crecimiento de los pacientes para establecer diagnósticos y tratamientos oportunos para lo cual es necesario utilizar indicadores biológicos, que permiten ubicar a los niños y adolescentes en estadios de maduración. El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar la correlación de los estadios de maduración de las vértebras cervicales según la edad cronológica en niños y adolescentes. Se evaluaron 93 imágenes de radiografías lateral de cráneo, de pacientes entre 6 y 17 años de edad que asistieron a la clínica del Posgrado de Ortopedia Maxilar de la Facultad de Odontología de La Universidad del Zulia, dos examinadores estimaron de forma independiente el estadio de maduración de las vértebras cervicales, utilizando el método descrito por Baccetti et al. y para cada estadio se evaluaron los estadísticos descriptivos de la edad cronológica categorizando según sexo, además se realizaron pruebas paramétricas y no paramétricas donde un p <0,05 fue considerado como significativo. La edad media de los niños y adolescentes estudiados resultó de 9,6 años y una desviación típica de 2,5 años. El coeficiente de correlación (r=0,771) certificó una correlación positiva alta entre maduración ósea y edad cronológica, igual producto se obtuvo en el caso de las niños y adolescentes del sexo femenino (r=0,858), mientras los del sexo masculino obtuvieron una correlación positiva moderada (r= 0,688). El modelo obtenido explica el 59,4 % de la variación entre maduración ósea y edad cronológica, lo cual evidencia el aumento de la edad promedio en tres años, cuando el estadio de maduración aumenta 1 año aproximadamente. Los resultados registrados sugieren que, aunque el grado de covarianza entre edad cronológica y estadios de maduración en esta investigación fue positiva alta, la edad cronológica no permite determinar con exactitud la maduración ósea, pudiendo estar influenciada por factores genéticos y/o ambientales (AU)