Follow-up treatment after initial splint therapy
Splints as therapeutic treatment instruments in temporomandibular disorder patients are widely accepted. The combination of splint therapy and aligner orthodontics not only provides comfortable and almost invisible treatment but also constitutes a powerful instrument for the orthodontic treatment of the temporomandibular disorder patient. To this end, precise knowledge of the temporomandibular joint, temporomandibular disorders and treatment using removable and fixed splints is indispensable. The two-phase treatment and the combination of fixed splint and aligner transform occlusal splint therapy into a permanently stable occlusion with physiological posterior vertical support.
Introduction
An occlusal splint can be both a therapeutic instrument and a diagnostic tool: to determine whether the occlusion is the cause or only a cofactor in the development of a complaint for the determination of the physiological jaw relationship before definite measures for occlusal correction are taken.
A re-evaluation of the performed functional therapy is carried out approximately 3 to 6 months after the start of the splint therapy. The focus lies on the occlusal analysis and the question of the therapeutic effect of the performed corrections of the occlusion. If orthodontic treatment is indicated, it is carried out by means of aligner orthodontics.
Werner Schupp, Julia Funke, Julia Haubrich, Wolfgang Boisserée
erschienen in: Journal of Aligner Orthodontics 2019;3(2):147–164