Temporomandibular joint osteoarthrosis and internal derangement. Part I: Clinical course and initial treatment

A certain natural sequence exists in the occurrence of the major clinical symptoms of 'craniomandibular dysfunction', usually leading to a final stage in which the disease is burned out. Most clinical symptoms can be explained by an internal derangement. As long as we do not know the real cause of, and the exact relationship between, osteoarthrosis and internal derangement, management should be primarily directed at the symptoms. In this paper, the major stages of the disorder are described and illustrated with three characteristic cases.