Journal of oral rehabilitation
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The Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD), published in 1992, was based on international expert recommendations and available empirical data. The major rationale was to offer a putative diagnostic and classification system whose reliability, validity and clinical usefulness for TMD diagnosis and classification could be scientifically evaluated and then revised using an evidence-based model for successive iterations. ⋯ One important component of that research has been to yield reliable and valid data resulting in an evidence-based revision of the RDC/TMD now available for continuing research and clinical application. The present article offers recommendations and speculations regarding how the RDC/TMD may continue to serve the function of guiding future research and, most importantly, serve as an evidence-based diagnostic and classification system to aid in the rational choice of clinical care for TMD sufferers around the world.