Psychoneuroimmunological disorders and temporomandibular joint pain: A review

Abstract

Psychoneuroimmunology characterizes a disease entity that combines psychological components, central nervous system regulation, and immunology, to explain the etiological complexity of a disease. Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) include a heterogeneous group of painful conditions that involve the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), muscles of mastication, and the adjacent anatomic structures. This review focuses on the psychoneuroimmunological diseases and disorders that mimic the symptoms of TMDs. The differentiation of these disorders is of great significance to the oral physician - differentiating and diagnosing the cause of TMJ pain and treating it effectively to benefit the patient.The literature for this review was taken from Medline/PubMed, other indexed journals, standard text books, and online material.

Keywords

• Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis
• psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
• temporomandibular joint disorders (TMDs)