Frequency of internal derangement of the temporomandibular joint in elderly individuals.

Elderly patients suffer from various systemic diseases and are likely to neglect their problems with functional disorders in the masticatory system, which are of crucial importance for successful prosthetic treatment. The purpose of the study was to establish the frequency of symptoms, clinical signs and tissue-specific diagnoses of internal derangement of the temporomandibular joint in elderly subjects and their relation with respect to gender and type of prosthetic replacement. The study was conducted on 96 subjects, 48 complete denture wearers and 48 removable partial denture wearers, whose average age was 75.8 years. The diagnostic procedure used in this study was manual functional analysis consisting of specific techniques of dynamic compressions and translations in diagnosing internal derangement of the temporomandibular joint. Chi-square test for independent samples was used for statistical analysis of the results. The symptoms of internal derangement of the temporomandibular joint were found in 9.3% of the subjects, and tissue-specific diagnoses were established in 52.1% of the subjects. The most common diagnoses were osteoarthrosis, total disk displacement with stable reposition and partial anterolateral disk displacement. No statistically significant differences in the frequency of symptoms, clinical signs and tissue-specific diagnoses were found between genders (P>.05) and complete and removable partial denture wearers (P>.05). The frequency of subjective symptoms of internal derangement in the temporomandibular joint of elderly subjects was low in relation to the frequency of intracapsular tissue-specific diagnoses.

Association of horizontal and vertical overlap with prevalence of temporomandibular disorders.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between horizontal (HO) and vertical overlap (VO) and prevalence of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) in a non-patient population. Out of the total number of subjects (230), 65.7% subjects were classified as asymptomatic, 5.7% subjects had muscle disorders (MD) (myalgia), 9.1% subjects had disc displacement with reduction (DDR), while 19.6% subjects had disc displacement with reduction associated with muscle disorder (DDR + MD) (myalgia). The HO equal to or greater than 5 mm was significantly more prevalent in the symptomatic patients (MD, DDR, DDR + MD) than in the asymptomatic group (P < 0.001). The VO equal to or > 5 mm also demonstrated statistically significant difference (P < 0.006) between the symptomatic (suffering from DDR, and DDR + MD) and asymptomatic subjects. Conclusion of the study is that the HO and VO equal to or > 5 mm was more present in the group of subjects with diagnosis of a TMD (DDR and MD), what distinguishes this group from the group of asymptomatic subjects.

Evaluation of denture stomatitis in Croatian adult population.

Denture stomatitis (DS) is often found under the removable partial dentures (RPDs). There are many factors influencing it, such as patient's age and gender, smoking habits, denture age, denture material, denture wearing habits, denture hygiene habits, oral hygiene instruction, denture cleanness and denture plaque accumulation. The aim of this study was to find out the influence these factors have on the prevalence of DS under RPDs and complete dentures (CDs). A total of 200 patients took part in this study. Half of the examined patients (100) wore CD and the other half (100) RPDs. There were 63 males and 137 females, aged between 45 and 83 years. Different smoking habits, denture wearing habits, denture hygiene habits, denture cleanness and oral hygiene instructions had significant influence on the degree of DS in CD wearers (p < 0.01). In the RPD wearers, denture material and denture support had a significant influence on DS (p < 0.01). The significant correlation was found between the denture plaque accumulation and the DS in complete maxillary and mandibular (rhoU = 0.85; rhoL = 0.61) and removable maxillary and mandibular partial dentures (rhoU = 0.45; rhoL = 0.62).

The satisfaction with the removable partial denture therapy in the Croatian adult population.

Little is known about the outcomes of treatment and patient's satisfaction with removable partial dentures in adult Croatian population. Therefore patient's satisfaction with their partial dentures in relation to some socio-economic variables was studied. Patient's satisfaction with denture retention, speech, aesthetics, comfort of wearing dentures, chewing ability was also studied in relation to different denture classification, construction, material, denture base shape (major connectors), denture support and the number of missing teeth. A total of 165 patients, 59 males and 105 females between 38 and 87 years took part in this study. A questionnaire, devised for a purpose of the study, was divided into three parts. In the first part, patients answered questions about age, gender, marital status, education, general health, socio-economic status, self-supporting life, period of tooth loss and number of previous denture experiences and in the second part, patients graded their partial dentures, depending on the level of satisfaction, by using a scale from 1 to 5. In the third part a dentist determined Kennedy classification and their modifications, denture material and denture support, denture base shape and the number of missing teeth and graded a denture construction. Influence of these factors on patient's satisfaction was analyzed. A majority of the examined patients were satisfied with the partial prosthesis, but a small amount of dissatisfaction existed. More then half of them scored all the examined parameters to the best score category. Considering chewing with lower partial dentures, women were more satisfied than men (p < 0.05). Patients with more missing teeth gave lower grades for the comfort of wearing dentures (p < 0.05). Patients of higher education gave lower grades (p < 0.05) for the aesthetics. Patients were not satisfied with speech if the dentist graded a construction of a lower partial denture low (p < 0.05). Dissatisfaction was related to mastication, aesthetics, number of missing teeth and ability of speech. These findings can aid a clinician in discussing a treatment plan and help a patient understand the risk of dissatisfaction in the presence of certain factors.