Purpose: To evaluate if the neuromuscular relaxing plate is effective in reducing the ophthalmic symptoms of patients with temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD) and to observe the possible correlation between TMD and ocular symptoms. Methods: A comparative analysis of TMD symptoms and ocular symptoms was performed in a sample of nineteen patients with TMD, ophthalmic signs and symptoms and absence of ocular diseases. Those patients were submitted to a reversible therapy using a neuromuscular relaxing plate. Results: It was observed that after the use of the plate during a longer period of time (60 days) the number of patients who showed 100% improvement or mild symptoms was statis-tically significant for both TMD and ocular symptoms. In contrast, in short periods of time (7-15, 15-30, 30-60 days) the plate's effectivity was not statistically significant to reduce TMD and ocular symptoms. The most frequent ophthalmic symptom (84.2%) shown by the patients with TMD of the sample was ocular pain. Conclusion: There is a correlation between TMD and ocular symptoms, because the improvement of the clinical status of the patients with TMD who used the reversible therapy, was statistically significant for both TMD and ocular symptoms in a longer period of time (7-60 days).
TMD; Eye; Neuromuscular relaxing plate
