Role of thermography in the assessment of temporomandibular disorders and other musculoskeletal conditions: A systematic review

Abstract

The aim of this review was to evaluate whether thermal imaging may constitute a reliable assessment method of musculoskeletal and temporomandibular disorders (TMD/MSD). A systematic review was conducted in the Pubmed, Scopus, Cochrane library, Web of Science, and Lilacs databases. The search terms were “musculoskeletal disorders,”“temporomandibular disorders,”“infrared thermography,”“thermography,” and “infrared imaging.” The inclusion criteria were: studies published between January 1985 and January 2021, performed in humans, with sample size equal or greater than 20 patients, written in English, Portuguese, French and/or Spanish, and full text available. The exclusion criteria were: systematic reviews, case studies, and/or studies focused on pathologies beyond the review’s domain. The risk of bias was evaluated using CASP 2018. A total of 2032 articles were retrieved. Of these, 25 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included to withdraw the following information: title, type of study, first author and year of publication, objective, number of participants, comparisons, and principal conclusions. No RCT were found. Despite some disparity, points of convergence among the majority of authors could be found. In general, healthy individuals show subtle thermal differences between contralateral homolog areas. Concerning orofacial structures, unilateral symptomatic individuals may show thermal differences equal or greater than 0.4°C. Infrared thermography accuracy in diagnosing TMD/MSD is still considered low to moderate. Despite some limitations, IRT might constitute a valuable supporting diagnostic tool in the medical field of TMD and MSD.

Infrared Thermography in Healthy Arabian Camels (Camelus dromedarius)

“…The technology of IRT is currently applied in a diverse range of fields including industry, construction, and medicine. Applications in human and veterinary medical science emphasize its use as a general diagnostic tool in such areas as detection of oncology, orthopedics, reconstructive surgeries such as microvascular autologous breast reconstruction, and rehabilitation; while in surgery and anesthesiology it is used to monitor pain (Milosevic et al 2018;Casas-Alvarado et al 2020;Damião et al 2021;Moreira et al 2021;Mostafa et al 2021;Kesztyüs et al 2022). The use of IRT in veterinary medicine is now growing as an auxiliary tool for assessing several conditions either physiological or pathological (Harris-Bridge et al 2018;Witkowska-Piłaszewicz et al 2020;Machado et al 2021;Tharwat et al 2021a).…”

The Value of Infrared Thermography to Assess Foot and Limb Perfusion in Relation to Medical, Surgical, Exercise or Pharmacological Interventions in Peripheral Artery Disease: A Systematic Review

“…Several systematic reviews have been conducted aiming at assessing the use of IRT in inflammatory diseases [ 24 ], tendinopathies [ 25 ], burns [ 26 ], temporomandibular disorders [ 27 ], and in the oncology field [ 28 ].…”

The Thermal Influence of Oral Rehabilitation on the Cranio-Cervico-Mandibular Complex: A Thermographic Analysis

“…The ∆T cutoff point that is defined to differentiate healthy and abnormal structures depends on the ROI analyzed. Concerning orofacial structures, previous findings have established that a value between 0.4 • C and 0.5 • C is the most accurate cutoff point (∆T ≥ 0.4 • C-abnormal; ∆T < 0.4 • C-healthy/normal) [27].…”