The correlation of research diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders and magnetic resonance imaging: a study of diagnostic accuracy

Objective.The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of research diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders (RDC/TMD) as a diagnostic test for temporomandibular joint problems using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the gold standard. Study Design.Sixty-seven women were assessed with RDC/TMD (2 examiners) and underwent MRI examination (3.0 T). Images were evaluated by 2 independent radiologists blinded to the clinical diagnoses. Results were analyzed by the Catmaker system. Results.Of the 67 patients, 44 were diagnosed with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) according to RDC/TMD, but 21 (32%) of the diagnoses were not confirmed by MRI. The RDC/TMD sensitivity was 83.0%, specificity was 53.0%, and the positive likelihood ratio was 1.77, whereas the negative likelihood ratio was 0.32 (P!0.16). Conclusions.Our data suggest that RDC/TMD is a good research tool, but the high rate of false-positive results limits its use in clinical practice. (Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol 2013;115:277-284)