Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) effects on mandibular kinetics: kinesiographic study.

AIM The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) on mandibular kinematics in TMD patients. METHODS The study was conduced on 28 children with non-specific TMD symptoms, limited mouth opening, history of trauma (delivery trauma, accident trauma). Patients were randomly divided into two groups: an OMT group (study group) and a no-intervention group (control group). All subjects underwent a first kinesiographic recording to evaluate the amplitude and velocity of maximal opening-closing movements. Study group patients underwent a second kinesiographic recording 2 months after OMT. Control group patients were submitted to a control kinesiographic recording six months after the first one. Kinesiographic tracings were acquired using the K7I system. RESULTS/STATISTICS The kinesiographic data of the study group showed a moderate statistically significant difference (p<.07) of maximal mouth opening (MO) parameter and a high statistically significant difference (p<.03) of maximal mouth opening velocity (MOV) parameter. No statistically significative difference (null hypothesis confirmed) of kinesiographic parameters in the control group was observed. CONCLUSION The results of this study suggest that OMT can induce changes in the stomatognathic dynamics, offering a valid support in the clinical approach to TMD. Multifactorial genesis of chronic disorders is also confirmed.