THE ROLE OF OCCLUSAL FACTORS IN TEMPORO MANDIBULAR DISEASES – A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

PURPOSE: The aim of this systematic review is to investigate the role of TMDs and offer a suggestion as to how best to manage them.METHODOLOGY: Databases including Google Scholar, Embase, Scopus, and Medline were accessed between October 1975 to May 2018. Only English language articles were selected. No additional sources were accessed, including gray literature. The topic addressed was the following: interaction between occlusion and TMD' 41 articles were sourced relevant to the research question under discussion. None of the articles were duplicates, while four were discarded after reading the abstract, and 15 articles were excluded after reading the articles in full text for studying other factors along with occlusion in their study. A total, therefore, 22 articles were finally selected and included based on their relevance in addressing the proposed research topic. All of them were full text accessed and qualitatively analyzed results.RESULTS: The articles selected demonstrated that there were three streams of studies. While two of the streams were diametrically opposite to each other regarding their conclusions, the third stream pointed out that the methodological flaws in the studies implied that further studies might be needed to arrive at a definite conclusion.CONCLUSION: This systematic review arrived at the following conclusions:1. A majority of studies do not find occlusion as an aetiologic role in TMD; 2.there are a few studies which, however, find an association, and it is the duty of the clinician to differentiate and diagnose the different entities of temporomandibular disorders and adjust the treatment modality accordingly.