Journal of oral rehabilitation
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Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders are divided by the American Academy of Orofacial Pain into five categories. The most common ones are joint pain, as arthralgia and joint disorders, as disc displacements. An important clinical presentation of arthralgia is the painful tenderness to manual palpation or decreased pressure pain threshold (PPT). ⋯ This value was considered to be the most appropriate to detected moderate to severe TMJ arthralgia. Indeed, the presence of disc displacement seems to significantly decrease PPT levels in asymptomatic subjects. The PPT value of 1.36 kgf cm(-2) can be used in the calibration procedures of the professionals involved with temporomandibular disorders and orofacial pain.