Differential Diagnosis of Otorhinolaryngological Disease with Temporo-Mandibular Joint (TMJ) Dysfunction

The anatomical proximity of the ear to the Temporo-Mandibular Joint can confuse the localization of pain caused in that area [1].This affair is the reason why patients with TMJ dysfunction often present to the Otorhinolaryngological doctor for ear problems [11,12].They complain of ear pain, ringing in the ear, the feeling of blockage in the ear, dizziness, etc. Pain and the feeling of blockage in the ear are often the symptoms complained of by patients with middle ear damage.Tinnitus, dizziness are the symptoms of patients with vestibular pathology and Meniere's syndrome, etc. [12,13].Pain, which is the most frequent symptom, is also referred by the patient in a state of rest, which differentiates it from joint pain, which is aggravated during the movement of the lower jaw, called the mandible.In order to make the differential diagnosis of Otorhinolaryngological disease with TMJ dysfunction, two individual groups of patients were selected and involved for our study.The first group consisted of 60 individual patients with Otorhinolaryngological pathology and the second group consisted of 211 patients with dysfunctional of TMJ disorders.The results of the study showed that in both study groups, women predominate, respectively with 53.3% (32 individual patients) of all cases, while in the second group with 78.7% (166 individual patients).Earaches can appear at any age, which according to statistical analysis shows that there is a statistically significant relationship after P=0.041, while for the thymus the results of the study show that there is no statistically significant relationship after P=0.275.