Management of temporomandibular joint disorders caused by complication of teeth extraction

• Main Author: Endang Syamsuddin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hasanuddin University 2016-06-01
• Series: Journal of Dentomaxillofacial Science
• Subjects: Dislocation, Pain, Osteoarthritis, Temporomandibular joints, Disorder
• Online Access: http://jdmfs.org/index.php/jdmfs/article/view/45

Complicated tooth extractions may lead to various post-extraction complications, including Temporomandibular Joint Disorders (TMD). Despite of the rare incidence, a delayed treatment of the TMD will cause more problems in the future as well as increased morbidity rate. The purpose of the current study was to elaborate the symptoms as well as the management of TMD as a post tooth extraction complication. The types of TMD as a post tooth extraction complication includes dislocated condyle, osteoarthritis, fracture condyle and disc displacement. These type of complications may resulted from an extensive opening of the mouth as well as an over pressure on the mandible during tooth extraction. In relation to this, some of the TMD symptoms that might cause a certain level of interference for patients may include pain, limited mouth opening and joint sounds, with pain and limited mouth opening as the initial symptoms. The first measure of the pain management would be warm light compress around the TMJ followed by a soft diet for food intake. A definitive treatment should then be based on the diagnosis of the TMD. It is concluded that TMD may occur as a complication of a tooth extraction that initiated by pain and limited mouth opening. Immediate treatment would be pain relieve and load reduction of the Temporomandibular Joint by employing soft diet and mandibular movement restriction.