Pain Research and Management
Volume 2018 (2018), Article ID 4517042, 2 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/4517042

Editorial

Pain of Temporomandibular Disorders: From Etiology to Management

Mieszko Wieckiewicz,¹ Yuh-Yuan Shiau,² and Klaus Boening³

¹Department of Experimental Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Wroclaw Medical University, 50425 Wroclaw, Poland
²Department of Prosthetic Dentistry, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei City 100, Taiwan
³Department of Prosthetic Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine, Dresden University of Technology, 01307 Dresden, Germany

Correspondence should be addressed to Mieszko Wieckiewicz; m.wieckiewicz@onet.pl

Received 27 May 2018; Accepted 27 May 2018; Published 20 June 2018

Copyright © 2018 Mieszko Wieckiewicz et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are musculoskeletal disorders with primary symptoms of pain localized to the face and temple and limitation of jaw function [1]. TMD is the second most common musculoskeletal disorder after chronic low-back pain causing pain and disability of the body [2]. TMD is not a disease entity but rather a broad term comprising many disease entities. In recent years, there has been a very intensive and varied development of research on etiology, epidemiology, symptomatology, and management of TMD-related pain. According to the widely used definition introduced by the International Association for the Study of Pain, pain is “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” [3].

The symptoms of TMD can include pain or tenderness of temporomandibular joints (TMJs) area, clicking, popping, or crepitus in the TMJs, limited jaw movements, masticatory muscle pain, headache, tinnitus, impaired hearing, and earache. It had been proved that TMD are related to multiple causes and biopsychosocial model which is a broad view that attributes disease outcome to the intricate, variable interaction of biological factors, psychological factors, and social factors [4].

The understanding and management of TMD pain usually require a multidisciplinary approach and that is the main target of this special issue. Interdisciplinary therapeutic possibilities should concern TMJs and neuromuscular structures of the masticatory system and supportive tissues at head and neck areas. Moreover, the involvement of psychological and social factors makes physical approaches insufficient. Based on this understanding, the editors of this special issue have invited researchers with wide scope of knowledge and study on pain of TMD.

Original and review articles related to the pain of TMD associated with basic and clinical studies on multiple branches of medicine and novelty in management have been welcome. The published papers introduce the multidisciplinary problem to the reader. The aim of this issue was also to show the novelties in management of TMD pain. A group of articles describe the etiology of the disorders, as well as its epidemiology, accurate diagnostics, and management methods. The special issue aims at collecting a multidisciplinary approach on the pain of temporomandibular disorders in basic and clinical aspects. Current views included in this issue will hopefully allow us to assess a perspective of the TMD-related pain and to develop and familiarize with new research related to the most recent multidisciplinary view points.

Mieszko Wieckiewicz
Yuh-Yuan Shiau
Klaus Boening

References

J. M. Zakrzewska, Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD), Orofacial Pain, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 1st edition, 2009.

E. Schiffman, R. Ohrbach, E. Truelove et al., “Diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders (DC/TMD) for clinical and research applications: recommendations of the International RDC/TMD Consortium Network and Orofacial Pain Special Interest Group,” Journal of Oral & Facial Pain and Headache, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 6–27, 2014.

IASP, “Part III: pain terms, a current list with definitions and notes on usage,” in Classification of Chronic Pain, IASP Task Force on Taxonomy, pp. 209–214, IASP Press, Seattle, WA, USA, 2nd edition, 1994.

G. L. Engel, “The need for a new medical model: a challenge for biomedicine,” Science, vol. 196, no. 4286, pp. 129–136, 1977.