To investigate the prevalence and the risk of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) (including each subtype: constipation, diarrhoea, and mixed) compared to the general population. Between January 2014 and December 2015 we enrolled consecutively adult patients diagnosed with IBS at the outpatient clinic of the University of Salerno and healthy controls (HC) without IBS. At enrollment, we analyzed all patients for the presence of TMDs according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria for TMD. We enrolled 91 IBS patients (23 IBS-D, 30 IBS-C and 38 IBS-M) and 57 HC in the study. We found a higher risk of having TMD (OR = 3.41, 95%CI: 1.66-7.01) compared to the HC. The risk of having TMD was independent of IBS-subtype. Multiple regression analysis showed that facial pain was positively related to abdominal pain and higher level of depression. IBS patients had a more than three times greater risk of TMD compared to HC. The risk of having TMD was similar in different IBS subtypes. IBS patients that also fulfilled criteria for TMD seem to share along with chronic facial and abdominal pain a significant co-occurrence with psychiatric disorders and female preponderance.

Purpose. The majority of the techniques used to assess the primary implant stability are subjective and empirical and can be used during or after the surgery. The aim of this study is to evaluate the bone density prior to surgery, in order to give recommendations to the clinician about the best surgical technique and the type of implant which is needed. Materials and Methods. A surgeon operated on 75 patients for 269 implants over the period 2010–2014. He required a CT to plan the surgery and he documented the type, the diameters, and the lengths of the implants, the insertion torque, and the ISQ values. At a later stage another clinician measured bone density and cortical thickness. We endeavoured to get the most accurate superimposition between the implants placed by the surgeon and those placed by the clinician. Results. In maxilla ISQ showed a significant positive correlation with HU values detected for coronal-buccal (r=0.302; p=0.020) and middle-lingual (r=0.295; p=0.023). Torque showed a positive correlation with cortical bone thickness at the middle of the ridge (ρ=0.196; p=0.032). Conclusion. It is important to take into consideration the Hounsfield Units and the cortical thickness as predictive parameters during the preoperative assessment, with regard to the choice of the implant type as well as the surgical technique.

To assess the risk and severity of IBS in a population of TMD patients. Subjects for the study group were recruited from patients attending the Dental Clinic. Health controls (HC) were recruited among patients' friends and clinic staff. All subjects filled in the RDC/TMD questionnaire and the ROME III questionnaire for the diagnosis of IBS. The IBS Severity Scoring System (IBS-SSS) was used to evaluate the severity of each case of IBS. Categorical variables were compared through the Chi square test. The risk of having abdominal pain was analysed using logistic regression. Twenty-two (46.8%) cases of IBS were diagnosed among TMD patients, whereas only 4 (11.4%) were in the HC group. This difference was statistically significant (χ2(1)=11.6; p<.01). The differences in the distribution of IBS-SSS were statistically significant (χ2(3)=12.49; p<.05). The regression model resulted statistically significant (χ2(5)=24.08; p<.001, R2=.37): abdominal pain was significantly related to nonspecific physical symptoms independent of the other variables. TMD patients had a greater risk of having IBS compared to HC. TMD patients presented also more severe form of IBS than HC. Key words:Temporomandibular disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, facial pain, case-control study.