Orthodontic Therapy and Temporomandibular Disorders

Orthodontic treatment has been variously cited both as a protective and harmful factor in temporomandibular disorders (TMD) etiology. Therefore, it is important to understand associations between different malocclusions, orthodontic treatment, and signs and symptoms of temporomandibular disorders (TMD). From the presented literature the suggestion that orthodontic treatment leads to TMD appears to be ill-founded. Clinical studies suggest that orthodontic treatment has little role to play in worsening or precipitating TMD when treated patients are compared with untreated individuals, with or without malocclusion, or when different types of orthodontic treatment are compared. A considerable reduction in signs and symptoms of TMD between the teenage period and young adulthood has been shown in some recent longitudinal studies.