Clinical Exam and Electrovibratography Detecting Articular Disk Displacement: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The complete evaluation of the stomatognathic system is essential for orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning. The evaluation should not only include the occlusal static aspects, but also the functional aspects. This is because the latter could be altered and one or more components of the stomatognathic system could be involved, including the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). The most usual alteration found is articular disk displacement, which can affect the prognosis, and eventually the result in the need for orthodontic treatment. In order to add to the literature on recognition of these alterations, the purpose of this study was to compare the findings of two calibrated examiners on disk displacement clinical diagnosis, and the possible matching between the clinical examination and the electrovibratography (EVG) as methods of disk displacement detection. The sample was composed of 60 patients, divided equally into four groups of 15 participants each, depending on the presence or absence of disk displacement determined by a clinical examination performed by two trained examiners and according to gender. One of the trained operators used EVG and SonoPAK (BioResearch, Inc., Brown Deer, WI) software. The results of the two examiners’ findings, one using clinical examination and the other using EVG and SonoPak software. The results were analyzed by applying the kappa coefficient. The findings of the two examiners were very close, resulting in an excellent agreement, and the comparison between the clinical examination and EVG findings resulted in satisfactory agreement between the methods.