Background
The diagnosis and management of patients suffering from occlusal dysesthesia (OD) remain a major challenge for dental practitioners and affected patients.
Objectives
To present the results ...of a literature‐based expert consensus intended to promote better understanding of OD and to facilitate the identification and management of affected patients.
Methods
In 2018, electronic literature searches were carried out in PubMed, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar as well as in the archives of relevant journals not listed in these databases. This approach was complemented by a careful assessment of the reference lists of the identified relevant papers. The articles were weighted by evidence level, followed by an evaluation of their contents and a discussion. The result represents an expert consensus.
Results
Based on the contents of the 77 articles identified in the search, the current knowledge about clinical characteristics, epidemiology, aetiology, diagnostic process, differential diagnosis and management of OD is summarised.
Conclusions
Occlusal dysesthesia exists independently of the occlusion. Instead, it is the result of maladaptive signal processing. The focus should be on patient education, counselling, defocusing, cognitive behavioural therapy, supportive drug therapy and certain non‐specific measures. Irreversible, specifically an exclusively dental treatment approach must be avoided.
Funktionelle Okklusion - was gibt es da Neues? Hellmann Daniel PD Dr; Hugger, Alfons Prof; Schindler Hans J Prof Dr
Der junge Zahnarzt,
2023/3, Letnik:
14, Številka:
1-2
Journal Article
Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are a collective term for pain and dysfunction of the masticatory muscles and the temporomandibular joints. The most common types of TMD are pain-related, which may ...impact the psychological behavior and quality of life. Currently, the most popular methods for the treatment of TMD patients are occlusal splint therapy, often in combination with physical- and/or pharmacotherapy. However, due to the complexity of etiology, the treatment of chronic TMD remains a challenge. Recently, CE-certified systems for non-invasive VNS (transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation, taVNS) have become available and show positive effects in the treatment of chronic pain conditions, like migraine or fibromyalgia, with which TMD shares similarities. Therefore, it is the main purpose of the study to evaluate the feasibility of daily taVNS against chronic TMD and to assess whether there is an improvement in pain severity, quality of life, and kinetic parameters.
This study is designed as a single-blinded, double-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) in a 1:1 allocation ratio. Twenty adult patients with chronical TMD symptoms will be enrolled and randomized to stimulation or sham group. In the stimulation group, taVNS is performed on the left tragus (25 Hz, pulse width 250 µs, 28 s on/32 s off, 4 h/day). The sham group will receive no stimulation via a non-functional identical-looking electrode. Validated questionnaire data and clinical parameters will be collected at the beginning of the study and after 4 and 8 weeks. The compliance of a daily taVNS of patients with chronical TMD will be evaluated via a smartphone app recording daily stimulation time and average intensity. Additionally, the treatment impact on pain severity and quality of life will be assessed with different questionnaires, and the effect on the mandibular mobility and muscle activity will be analyzed.
This is the first clinical trial to assess the feasibility of taVNS in patients with chronic TMD symptoms. If taVNS improves the symptoms of TMD, it will be a significant gain in quality of life for these chronic pain patients. The results of this pilot study will help to determine the feasibility of a large-scale RCT.
This study has been registered in the DRKS database (DRKS00029724).
Why has no dentist received the Nobel Prize so far? To answer that question, we need to take a closer look at the prize candidates. This article presents an overview of scholars in the field of ...dental research who were nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine during the first half of the twentieth century. Drawing on archival sources in the archive of the Nobel Committee, we focus on the physiologist, Lady May Mellanby (1882-1978) and the dentist, Walter Hess (1885-1980). While Hess did not reach the shortlist, Mellanby was judged 'prize-worthy' by the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine but she never received the award in the end. In this paper, we discuss the impact of their work among dentists.
The aim of our investigations is to optimize the anatomical basis for the design of a sufficient occlusal relationship, especially in view of the innovative technologies by analyzing the occlusal ...contact point patterns at cusp structures according to A-, B-, C- localization tooth by tooth on the individual occlusal surfaces in the posterior region in static habitual occlusal position.
In 3300 subjects of the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP 1) the interocclusal registration in habitual intercuspation using silicone registration was used and analyzed by using the special evaluation software Greifswald Digital Analyzing System (GEDAS II).
Chi square test was used to investigate whether the distribution of contact areas differed in the group of premolars or molars - each considered separately for maxilla and mandible - on the basis of the probability of error p < 0.05.
In 709 subjects (446 male with a mean age of 48.9 ± 13.04 years; 283 female with a mean age of 52.4 ± 14.23 years) the antagonistic situation was specifically considered on natural posterior teeth without conservative or restorative-prosthetic interventions, i.e. without caries, fillings, crowns or other restorations. On the basis of these subjects, the silicone registrations were analyzed using GEDAS II. For the first and second upper molars, the ABC contact distribution was the most frequent: 20.4 % for the first and 15.3 % for the second molar. The second most frequent contact area for maxillary molars was area 0. The upper molars had contact areas only at the maxillary palatal cusp (B-/C-contacts). This contact relationship was most frequent in the maxillary premolar (18.1–18.6 %). In mandibular premolars, with the buccal cusps areas A and B were frequently involved (15.4–16.7 %). Mandibular molars showed a frequent contact pattern involving all A-, B-, C- and 0- contact areas (13.3–24.2 %). To capture the possible influence of the antagonistic dentition situation, the antagonistic situation was specifically considered and except for the mandibular premolars (p < 0.05) the contact distribution did not differ for molars and maxillary premolars regarding the dental status of the antagonistic teeth.
Natural posterior teeth without occlusal contacts were observed from 20.0 % in the second lower molars to 9.7 % in the first upper molars.
Our results suggest a clinically relevant due to the fact, that this study is the first population-based epidemiological study to analyze the occlusal contact point patterns at cusp structures according to A-, B-, C- localization tooth by tooth on the individual occlusal surfaces in the posterior region in static habitual occlusal position in order to optimize the anatomical basis for the design of a sufficient occlusal relationship.
•For the maxillary molars, the distribution of occlusal contacts with ABC- localization was the most frequent variant.•For the mandibular molars, occlusal contacts with ABC0- localization was the most frequent variant.•The influence of the antagonistic situation was specifically considered.•The results can be used in computer-aided design of occlusal surfaces with a given antagonist relationship.
Sufficient occlusion is a basic prerequisite for the functional efficiency of the occlusal surfaces. Exactly where and in what number the occlusal contacts in the posterior region should be present ...for this purpose is controversial. The present study investigated the number and location of occlusal contacts on posterior teeth without dental findings, ie, without caries or restorative restorations such as fillings, crowns, etc. Such natural posterior teeth were present in 709 subjects (males (m) = 446: 48.9 ± 13.04 years, females (f) = 283: 52.4 ± 14.23 years) of a subject collective of 1223 subjects (m = 648, f = 575) of the regional baseline study 'Study of Health in Pomerania 1' (SHIP-1). Silicone bite registrations in habitual intercuspation (IP) were evaluated, whereby the test persons were asked to fix the bite block with biting force without biting firmly. The registrations were scanned with a document scanner in incident and transmitted light; a calibration strip was used to determine the transparency threshold of a layer thickness of 20 μm, below and equal to which the transparent zone was considered as a contact or contact area. The Greifswald Digital Analyzing System 2 (GEDAS 2) software was used to determine the number and location of occlusal contact areas tooth by tooth. To define the localization of the contacts, a cross with two concentric circles symmetric to the longitudinal fissure was superimposed on the occlusal surface; this resulted in four inner and four outer quadrants. Thus, the number of pixels in occlusal contact areas per inner and outer quadrant could be determined. The image resolution was 300 dpi. On average (median), the premolars had two occlusal contacts each, the posterior teeth had four to five, and tooth 46 had six contacts. The right and left teeth did not differ in the frequency of occlusal contacts in the Mann-Whitney U test for independent samples. In the maxillary premolars, frequent contact areas were primarily located mesially on the inner and outer slopes of the palatal cusp. In the maxillary molars, the palatal slope of the distopalatal cusp and the inner slopes of the mesiopalatal and distopalatal cusps were frequently affected. On the mandibular premolars, the inner slopes of the buccal cusps and the buccal slope of the distobuccal cusp were particularly frequently addressed; in teeth 35 and 45, the buccal slope of the mesiobuccal cusp was also somewhat more frequently addressed. Teeth 36 and 46 frequently had contact areas on the buccal slope of the distobuccal cusp as well as on the inner slopes of the distal cusps (distobuccal and distolingual), whereas teeth 37 and 47 tended to behave similarly. Epidemiologically, the focus of the frequent contact areas on the respective supporting cusps of the maxillary and mandibular posterior teeth and a distribution of contacts stabilizing the tooth in its position in the dental arch through the interlocking were confirmed. It makes sense to take this into account when designing occlusal surfaces in the posterior region.
When recording condylar movement paths with the aid of electronic measuring systems, it is often found that, especially in jaw opening and closing movements, excursive and incursive paths of movement ...are not congruent but run separately, independently of one another to a greater or lesser degree. The objective of the study was to investigate this phenomenon in the context of rotation vs translation behavior, also taking into consideration additional side-specific condylar movement patterns. For this purpose, the electronic movement records of habitual jaw opening of 259 participants of the associated project of the population-representative basic study SHIP 0 were evaluated. The condylar movement path (condylar tracing, ConTrac) at the arbitrary axis point, the excursion vs incursion behavior in the condylar tracing grid (ExInGrid), and the rotation vs translation behavior (RotTrans) were classified, and the translational condylar path and the maximum angle of rotation were determined metrically. Relationships between the parameters ConTrac, ExInGrid, and RotTrans were statistically analyzed using cross tabulations and Spearman's correlation coefficient. Only about 18% of ConTrac showed congruence of excursive and incursive movement path components, while 39% demonstrated noncongruent paths, and 43% showed further conspicuous features in the movement path. For the parameter ExInGrid, recognizable to highly pronounced loop formation patterns to a degree of 89% were observed in the condylar tracing grid. An average of 12.5 mm (min 2.1 mm, max 21.7 mm) was determined for the purely translational component of the condylar movement path, and 32.1 degrees (min 12 degrees, max 45 degrees) for the maximum angle of rotation. Concerning the rotation vs translation behavior, the linear basic pattern occurred at around 9%; the sigmoidal pattern at 28%; and the hysteretic, loopy or irregular pattern at 63%. The parameters RotTrans and ExInGrid showed a strong correlation, whereas the strength of the correlation for ConTrac and ExInGrid or RotTrans and ConTrac was evaluated as weak or very weak. The rotation vs translation behavior influences condylar movement paths in the positional relationship of excursive and incursive components. The visualization of several condylar movement paths in the form of a condylar tracing grid helps to capture complex rotational and translational motion components of the real condyles more effectively than the assessment of a single condylar movement path.
The articulation parameters, especially the horizontal condylar inclination angle (HCI), the Bennett angle (BA), and the immediate side shift (ISS) were determined in 259 subjects (100 males; 159 ...females) of the associated project with reference to the population-representative baseline study (Study of Health in Pomerania, SHIP 0). The evaluations were based on a clinical functional status and electronic motion recording with the ultrasonic measuring system Jaw Motion Analyser (JMA, Zebris, Isny, Germany). The reference plane, to which all measured values were represented and the HCI calculated, was the hinge axis infraorbital plane (HA-IOP). The HCI was determined after an excursive movement with a length of 4 mm to the HA-IOP in the sagittal view and the BA after a mediotrusive excursion movement of 6 mm in the horizontal view to the midsagittal plane. For the standard and limit values, the average value in addition to the standard deviation and the 10th and 90th percentile value (10th percentile value, 90th percentile value) were determined: HCI right 52.1 ± 10.14 degrees (39.4 degrees, 64.0 degrees), HCI left 53.1 ± 9.67 degrees (42.3 degrees, 67.0 degrees), BA right 15.2 ± 7.53 degrees (6.7 degrees, 25.0 degrees), BA left 14.2 ± 7.84 degrees (5.4 degrees, 24.1 degrees). The HCI was approximately 2 to 3 degrees larger in females (males: right 50.5 ± 9.47 degrees, left 51.9 ± 8.99 degrees; females: right 53.1 ± 10.42 degrees, left 53.8 ± 10.03 degrees). Likewise, the BA in the age group ≥ 40 years (males: right 14.4 ± 6.62 degrees, left 13.1 ± 7.14 degrees; females: right 17.0 ± 9.02 degrees, left 16.9 ± 8.72 degrees). The latter proved to be statistically significant in the t test for independent samples, assuming variance equivalence on the right, with P = 0.009, and with rejection of the variant equivalence on the left, with P = 0.002. The right and left HCI and BA joint values showed highly significant linear dependence at P < 0.001, but rather low, however, for the HCI with r2 = 0.175 for the HCI and r2 = 0.228 for the BA. In 46% of cases, the right and left HCI values differed up to 5 degrees only; a further 20.9% were in an interval difference of between 5 and 10 degrees. The following results were shown for the differences in the BA: 56.4% of the cases were between 0 and 5 degrees, and 26.2% were in the interval ranges of 5 to 10 degrees. ISS occurred in 18.1% of cases on the right side of the joint, and in 27.8% of cases on the left side. On both sides of the joint it was significantly more frequent in the age group ≥ 40 years with assumed variance equality than in the age group < 40 years (P = 0.002 right, P = 0.003 left). The groups relating to the Helkimo index (HI) did not differ significantly in all function-specific parameters. If it is assumed that there is no significant influence on the occlusion if the HCI values differ by 7 to 8 degrees from the average value, only approximately one third of all cases (35.1%) were characterized by a purely average value setting in the articulator. In 41.7% of cases, one joint value was situated outside the average value range; in 23.2% of the cases both values were outside the average value range. Without a measurement of the condylar path inclination, however, it is impossible to decide to what extent the HCI deviates from the average value, and which joint side is larger or smaller than the other and to what extent. These results suggest that in extensive and complex cases, the articulator should be adjusted according to individual, function-specific joint values.