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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of age and sex on craniomandibular disorders. A total of 195 subjects were examined, 148 women and 47 men. The range of age was 16 to 70 years. Clinical and anamnestic examination data established the ratio of women to men as 4:1. The prevalence of clicking, headache, teeth-clenching, hypomobility, difficulty in mastication, and neuromuscular symptoms was greater among young women than in other age and sex groups. There was a statistically significant correlation between severity of symptoms and age among women, and a relative decline by age in the prevalence of symptoms for both sexes. Finally, younger patients showed a greater prevalence of neuromuscular symptoms, whereas older patients had more peripheral symptoms.

Four techniques for making collarless metal-ceramic restorations were investigated in this study to examine the final color consistency, the bacterial plaque accumulation, and the surface characteristics of the porcelain margin. Twenty crowns were constructed and data revealed the superiority of the platinum foil technique in producing consistent color, whereas the shoulder porcelain technique resulted in the most significant color deviation. Metal surfaces exhibited the greatest in vitro bacterial plaque accumulation (42.43%), and the margins of the platinum foil technique accumulated the least plaque (7.23%). In addition, the wax binder and the platinum foil techniques produced the smoothest surfaces, whereas again the shoulder porcelain technique exhibited pronounced surface roughness. From the obtained results, and with the limitations of this in vitro study, one can speculate that surface roughness is not a predominant factor in the initial process of bacterial plaque accumulation.

Masseteric silent periods have been evoked in a group of normal subjects under a standardized system and under nonstandardized conditions. In the designed system, head position, electrode placement, bite force, tap force, direction of tap, and surface zone of tap force delivery were controlled. Analysis of data confirmed the hypothesis that standardization of the procedure for eliciting the silent period results in measurements of duration with decreased standard deviations and variances. In the present study, under the standardized system the SPD range of standard deviations was between 1.37 and 3.68 (mean 2.97) and the range of variances was between 1.89 and 13.54 (mean 8.85). The recorded low variability suggests a high degree of reproducibility of the system. High reproducibility and low variability of measurements are necessary if an accurate measure of silent period duration is to be achieved and used in the interpretation of diagnostic findings for craniomandibular disorders.

Studies were done to assess the ability of Campylobacter jejuni to survive in fresh ground beef during refrigerated storage and to identify time-temperature treatments needed to inactivate Campylobacter in ground and cubed red meat. The organism survived well in refrigerated ground beef containing large numbers of indigenous bacteria. Relatively little death (< 1.2-log 10 reduction) occurred for 7 of 8 strains during 14 d at 4°C. C. jejuni inoculated into ground beef and cubed lamb meat was quite sensitive to heat treatment. D-values for inactivation of campylobacters in ground beef ranged from 5.9 to 6.3 min at 50°C and from 12 to 21 s at 58°C. D-values were generally greater when campylobacters were heated in lamb meat, ranging from 5.9 to 13.3 min and 12.5 to 15.8 s at 50 and 60°C, respectively. All strains of C. jejuni were more sensitive to heat than salmonellae, hence meat heated to a temperature sufficient to inactivate Salmonella spp. should be free of viable campylobacters.