A manipulation technique for treatment of anterior disk displacement without reduction

Anterior disk displacement without reduction, called "closed locking," is a serious stage of the internal derangement of the temporomandibular joint. Many types of conservative and surgical treatments have been applied to this problem. A new manipulation technique to release "closed locking" of the temporomandibular joint and the clinical results on 35 patients are reported in this study. Voluntary maximal mouth openings of the patients were measured as interincisal distance before and after the application of the manipulation technique. The voluntary maximal mouth opening of 14 of 17 patients (82%) who were younger than 30 years was improved to more than 40 mm after the application of the manipulation technique. Contrariwise, the voluntary maximal mouth opening of only 5 of 18 patients (28%) who were older than 30 years was improved to more than 40 mm.