A further study of facial skin temperature in patients with mandibular dysfunction

Abstract

Summary Pain and tenderness of one masseter muscle is a common aspect of mandibular dysfunction. Using an infrared camera, it has been shown that the skin immediately overlying the tender area is commonly hotter than the corresponding area on the other side of the face. The difference tended to diminish as treatment progressed and had disappeared in a number of patients who were re‐examined at completion of treatment. It is suggested that the higher surface temperature is due to the presence of a state of inflammation with hyperaemia in the tender area of the masseter muscle. This conclusion is advanced in part because other causes seem unlikely, and in part because in a few patients with known inflammatory sites, similar hot areas were present in overlying skin.