title: Oral and maxillofacial surgery and chronic painful temporomandibular disorders--a systematic review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide a systematic review of the best available research literature investigating the relation of oral and maxillofacial surgical procedures to the onset or relief of chronic painful temporomandibular disorder (TMD).
  
  
  METHODS
  A comprehensive review of the databases CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, NHS Evidence--Oral Health, PsycINFO, Web of Knowledge, and MetaLib was undertaken by 2 authors (P.S., M.H.) up to June 2009 using search terms appropriate to establishing a relation between orofacial surgical procedures and TMD. The search was restricted to English-language publications.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 1,777 titles reviewed, 35 articles were critically appraised but only 32 articles were considered eligible. These were observational studies that fell into 2 groups; 9 were seeking to establish a surgical cause for TMD. Of these, only 2 of a series of 3 claimed that there was a significant link, but this claim was based on weak data (health insurance records) and was abandoned in a subsequent report. Twenty-three studies were seeking to achieve relief by orthognathic surgical intervention. These were also negative overall, with 7 articles showing varying degrees of mostly nonsignificant improvement, whereas 16 showed no change or a worse outcome. No published report on the putative effect of implant insertion was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These apparently contradictory approaches underline a belief that oral surgical trauma or gross malocclusion has a causative role in the onset of TMD. However, there was no overall evidence of a surgical causal etiology or orthognathic therapeutic value. This review emphasizes that it is in the patients' best interest to carry out prospective appropriately controlled randomized trials to clarify the situation.
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Dental Education Unit, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lindenmeyer
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sutcliffe
authors.forename: Mehri
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eghtessad
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goulden
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Speculand
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000150:complications; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects; D056948:Orthognathic Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects; D013705:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery