Mandibular movements have been analyzed extensively in the past for prosthodontic reasons, and more recently to study the function of the masticatory system. This study investigated the range of mandibular movements in a young male population, and analyzed the difference in range of mouth opening, right and left lateral movements, and protrusive movement between asymptomatic subjects (control group) and patients with clinical diagnoses of temporomandibular disorders. A total of 180 subjects, aged 19-28 years, were included in the study. The TMD sample comprised 90 patients (30 patients with muscle disorders; 30 patients with disc displacement with reduction; 30 patients with muscle disorders and disc displacement with reduction) and was compared with 90 healthy control subjects. All participants were evaluated by the attending dentist at baseline with a complete physical examination and history questionnaire, which included the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders Axis I measures. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant differences in ranges of mandibular movements between and within the groups of healthy control subjects and patients with muscle and temporomandibular joint disorders. It is suggested that there are differences in the range of mandibular movements that clearly separate asymptomatic subjects and patients with temporomandibular disorders in this young male population.

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ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of clinical experience level on the shade matching accuracy in different dental occupational groups.Materials and methodsA total of 80 participants, assigned to one of four groups depending on the level of their clinical experience in shade matching: dental technicians (DTs), residents in prosthodontics (RPs), specialists in prosthodontics (SPs) and dental students (DSs) took part in the study. They were asked to use Tooth guide Training Box (TTB) and determine 15 standardized shade tabs using VITA 3D-Master shade guide. The number of mistakes in final test for each participant was recorded and accuracy was calculated. Color difference (ΔE) values for each shade were calculated from L*, a* and b* values. Differences in accuracy, mean ΔE values and mean error ΔE values between four different groups were examined.ResultsNo statistically significant differences were found between the groups regarding accuracy and mean ΔE values (p>0.05). The accuracy rate in four groups was 0.51±0.20 (DTs), 0,54±0.18 (RPs), 0.49±0.16 (SPs) and 0.55±0.14 (DSs), respectively. Mean ΔE values were 2.10±0.98 (DTs), 2.18±0.97 (RPs), 2.51±0.97 (SPs) and 2.08±0.86 (DSs), respectively. Regarding mean error ΔE values, DTs made errors with significantly less deviations compared to other groups (p<0.05).ConclusionsThis study has shown that clinical experience is not found to be a significant factor to the shade matching accuracy. With regard to the mean error ΔE values, DTs were more successful in shade matching than other participants.

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.