Comparison of symptoms, signs and magnetic resonance imaging in children aged 5-18 years with temporomandibular joint disease.

Background: Temporomandibular joint diseases (TMD) are an important clinical condition in childhood as in adults. There is variation in the frequency and distribution of complaints in children about this disorder.

Materials and methods: This study was conducted on 407 children aged 5-18 years. Patients with dentofacial function problems, trauma, history of surgery, and malignancy were excluded from the study. Patients with temporomandibular magnetic resonance imaging in their records were classified as normal, reduction disc displacement and non-reduction disc displacement.

Results: Patients symptoms were click (77.2%), pain (71.5%), headache (61.2%), bruxism (31.9%), locking (28%), difficulty in mouth opening (24.3%). The most common clinical findings are normal mouth opening (62.2%) and deviation (44.9%). When the MR results were examined, 55.1% of female and 66.6% of male were observed to be normal, and this statistically shows that males have more normal MR findings.

Conclusion: TMD are also observed in children. Clinical history and findings are helpful in diagnosis, but the contribution of imaging methods may be limited. If head and neck pain is detected in children, TMD should be kept in mind.