Assessment of Range of Motion of Temporomandibular Joint among Dental Students of Dhulikhel Hospital.

Background Restriction in mandibular range of motion (ROM) is one of the main signs of mandibular dysfunction and an important criterion for evaluation of functional state of the masticatory system. Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the normal ROM of Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) among dental students of tertiary care hospital at central region of Nepal. Method After ethical clearance, cross- sectional study was conducted between August to September 2022 among all dental students who gave consent. The inter-incisal opening, bilateral lateral excursion and protrusion were measured thrice using 15 cm metallic scale and an average was considered to reduce ambiguity. The data was entered in Microsoft excel and transferred to SPSS version 20 for statistical analysis. The descriptive statistics was calculated and independent t test was applied to compare the mean between genders. Result Total of 145 students (25 males and 120 females) were included with the mean age of 21.32 ± 1.29 years. The overall mean inter-incisal opening was 44.82 ± 5.80 mm, right lateral excursion was 8.23 ± 2.11 mm, left lateral excursion was 8.70 ± 1.80 mm and protrusion was 5.65 ± 1.87 mm. There was statistically significant difference in right and left lateral excursion and protrusion among genders. Conclusion The inter-incisal opening of participants in our study appeared towards lower range of normal mouth opening while lateral excursion appeared consistent with those described in the literature. The protrusive movement of our participants was decreased, compared to those recorded in the literature.