A STUDY ON THE LAXITY OF THE TEMPOROMANDIBULAR JOINTS

악관절(顎關節)의 이완성(弛緩性)(LAXITY)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究)

The purpose of this study was primarily to determine the relationship between temporomandibular joint mobility and generalized benign joint hypermobility. The subjects were 85 men and 76 women, who were students of dental and dental hygiene schools, aged 18 to 30 years old. They had no disturbances or complaints of movement of temporomandibular joints and other joints in the body. The joint mobility was measured by a test which is a modification of a method developed originally by Carter and Wilkinson (1964). The mandibular mobility was measured during active and passive maximal opening, laterotrusion, protrusion, and retrusion by Ingervall's method (1970). The obtained results were as follows: 1. The distribution of joint hypermobility disclosed was 4.8% in men and 19.7% in women, and 11.8% of total subjects. 2. The joint mobility index was a mean of 0.37 for men and 0.51 for women in total subjects, and 0.80 for men and 0.73 for women in hypermobile subjects. 3. The angle of passive dorsiflexion of the little finger was greater in the left than in the right hand for both sexes and in hypermobile subjects than in total subjects. 4. There was a positive correlation between the joint mobility index and the angle of passive dorsiflexion of the little finger in total subjects. 5. The joint mobility was greater in women than in men, and in the left than in the right hand. 6. In the active maximal mandibular movements of total subjects, the mean values for the opening capacity was 56.01 mm and 52.04mm, the laterotrusion mean 8.07 and 8.08, the protrusion mean 8.72 and 8.24, and the retrusion mean 0.48 and 0.49 for men and women respectively. 7. In the passive maximal mandibular movements of total subjects, the mean values for the opening capacity was 59.07mm and 54.85mm, the laterotrusion mean 8.90 and 9.12, the protrusion mean 10.03 and 10.00, and the retrusion mean 0.69 and 0.72 in men and women respectively. The active and passive maximal opening capacity was larger in men than in women but in the other movements there were no significant differences between men and women. 8. The range of active and passive maximal mandibular movements of hypermobile subjects tended to be larger in men but no significant difference in women compared with that of total subjects. 9. The range of maximal mandibular movements was increased more in passive than in active.