Five-year follow-up of mandibular dysfunction in adolescents with intact and restored dentitions: a comparative anamnestic and clinical study.

Signs and symptoms of mandibular dysfunction were re-examined in 189 subjects, aged 18 to 20 years, 5 years after the first examination. One hundred nine subjects had restored dentitions at both examinations (group F), 36 subjects with previously intact dentitions had had fillings in their teeth during the follow-up period (group FI), and 44 subjects had intact dentitions at both examinations (group I). The subjects with restored dentitions had a higher degree and frequency of mandibular dysfunction than the subjects with intact teeth. The subjects who had had fillings during the follow-up period (group FI) constituted a group between groups F and I with respect to signs and symptoms of mandibular dysfunction. This strengthens the authors' earlier suspicions that dental filling therapy is of greater etiologic importance in mandibular dysfunction than had been thought previously. However, more studies are necessary to find the exact mechanisms involved.