PubMed1986
General agreement was found among the 75 patients' responses to the anamnestic questionnaire compared with responses in similar epidemiologic studies. An SPO has been proposed as a method of describing condylar position in addition to the MLD and the index of intercuspal asymmetry (described in Part I). The index of asymmetry was statistically significant at the 0.01 level between the group of 38 patients without primary symptoms and the group of 37 patients with one or more primary symptoms and mandibular dysfunction. The SPO hypothesis that the symptom of noise from the TMJ was present outside the SPO and absent inside the SPO was statistically significant in the categories of primary symptoms, oral habits, and psychologic self-evaluation (p less than 0.01) but was not statistically significant in regard to questions of mandibular function and chronic pain. A composite order of symptoms, determined by the sum of their rankings in each of three condylar indexes, places noise from the TMJ, facial pain, ear pain, chewing pain, and TMJ pain symptoms at the top of the list. The right and left side least squares linear analysis of 38 dental patients without primary symptoms yielded a difference of 10 degrees whereas a greater spread of 69.2 degrees was found in the group of 37 dental patients with primary symptoms and patients with mandibular dysfunction. Patients seen because of mandibular dysfunction present condylar recordings outside the SPO with a high level of agreement and a mean index of intercuspal asymmetry of 1.29 mm (SD 0.570). The three-dimensional analysis of condylar position in RCP and intercuspal position offers an explanation of why the correlation of mandibular dysfunction and occlusion has been difficult to recognize.