Mandibular Joint Pressures

¹ School of Dentistry, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, Ireland

A method of recording the pressures of the posterior attachment area of the mandibular disk is presented. The results of recording the joint pressures of six normal males during simple mandibular maneuvers indicate that mouth opening, protrusion, and contralateral movement produce a negative pressure, whereas closing, retrusion, and ipsilateral movement produce a positive pressure. These results favor the operation of a passive mechanism in the posterior attachment area of the mandibular disk.