Parafunctions of the stomatognathic system and their importance for the temporomandibular joint dy sfunction

Abstract

Stomatognathic system is the whole system of organs that performs speech, respiratory and nutritional functions. Stomatognathic malfunction of the system certainly affects an individual’s quality of life. A number of factors can attribute to the damaging of the main functions of the system and one of them is the parafunction of the stomatognathic system. Study objectives. To formulate an accurate definition of the parafunction of the stomatognathic system. To classify parafuntions into classes according to their etiology. To select the parafunctions which have an effect on the appearance of TMJ dysfunctions. Material and methods. Analysis of scientific publications. The reviewed literature material covers 70 authors and 90 different publications that deal with the problem of stomatognathic parafunctions. Discussion/Conclusions. All authors attribute the following to the stomatognathic or mouth parafunctions: bruxism, nail or pencil chewing, thumb sucking, etc... Those are habits that make up only one part of all parafunctions of the stomatognathic system. Until now, there is no unanimously agreed opinion in the world about the definition, classification, research and treatment methods of the parafunctions of the stomatognathic system. According to the literature, the parafunction of the stomatognathic system can be defined as unnecessary use of physiological stereotypical function without anatomical structures pathology and the consequence of this function is the dysfunction of any part of the stomatognathic system. Having analised the scientific literature, we find out that the TMJ dysfunction is an important issue in today’s society, especially among young people.The data from ‘TMJ Association’ show that 35 million people suffer from TMJ dysfunction in the U.S. Several studies have been done in the world which demonstrate a direct influence of parafunctions to the occurence of TMJ dysfunction. However, t