Comparing prospective and retrospective evaluations of temporomandibular disorders after orthognathic surgery

The authors conducted a study to document agreement between prospective examinations performed by trained clinical trial examiners and retrospective surgical chart reviews in identifying signs and symptoms of temporomandibular disorders, or TMD. Only a small fraction of the signs and symptoms identified by clinical trial examiners were documented in the surgical charts. Studies relying on retrospective chart reviews may seriously underestimate signs and symptoms of TMD.