Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) on mandibular kinematics in TMD patients.

Methods: The study was conduced on 28 children with non-specific TMD symptoms, limited mouth opening, history of trauma (delivery trauma, accident trauma). Patients were randomly divided into two groups: an OMT group (study group) and a no-intervention group (control group). All subjects underwent a first kinesiographic recording to evaluate the amplitude and velocity of maximal opening-closing movements. Study group patients underwent a second kinesiographic recording 2 months after OMT. Control group patients were submitted to a control kinesiographic recording six months after the first one. Kinesiographic tracings were acquired using the K7I system.

Results/Statistic: The kinesiographic data of the study group showed a moderate statistically significant difference (p<.07) of maximal mouth opening (MO) parameter and a high statistically significant difference (p<.03) of maximal mouth opening velocity (MOV) parameter. No statistically significative difference (null hypothesis confirmed) of kinesiographic parameters in the control group was observed.

Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that OMT can induce changes in the stomatognathic dynamics, offering a valid support in the clinical approach to TMD. Multifactorial genesis of chronic disorders is also confirmed

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A. Monaco, V. Cozzolino, R. Cattaneo, T. Cutilli, A. Spadaro

This article originally appeared in European Journal of Paediatric Dentistry