Modelagem do movimento mandibular baseado em restrições do disco articular

Abstract

The temporomandibular joint is one of the most complex joints in the human body. It is composed of two joints, one at each side of the jaw, that work together to perform the opening and closing movements of the mouth, as well as chewing movements. It is a joint that is constantly under pressure and the loading in this joint can result in numerous medical conditions. About 30% of the population have some symptom of TMD, and the temporomandibular discs displacement is the most common between them, reaching 70% of patients. The work carried out so far have focused on the study of specific features of ATM, as the trajectory of the jaw in certain movements, the muscles that are activated in these movements or stress suffered by the articular disc. These models have a limited representation of ATM and adjacent structures or use techniques that requires too much computational power, restricting its use to directed research. This paper presents a model for visualization of the jaw movements interactively based on disk restrictions and adjacent structures. The model uses physical simulation techniques to achieve more realism on movements visualization, allowing its application in various areas of medicine.