Association between clinical manifestations of occlusal trauma and magnetic resonance imaging findings of periodontal ligament space

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between clinical manifestations of occlusal trauma of the teeth and maximum signal intensity of periodontal ligament space on MRI. Methods: 20 subjects (males: 9, females: 11, mean age: 35.9 ± 14.0 years, range: 22–65 years) participated in this study. Subjective symptoms of bruxism, tooth mobility, fremitus, occlusal contact area, occlusal force, widening of the periodontal ligament space, and thickening of the lamina dura were defined as clinical manifestations of occlusal trauma. The total number of clinical manifestations was used to evaluate the degree of clinical occlusal trauma, with a score of 7 indicating the highest degree of occlusal trauma. The maximum signal intensity in the periodontal ligament space was evaluated by a specific T 2 weighted MRI sequence: IDEAL image. Results: Spearman’s rank correlation between the total clinical occlusal trauma score and maximum signal intensity in the periodontal ligament space was 0.529 for all teeth, 0.517 for anterior teeth, and 0.396 for molar teeth (p < 0.001 for all). Conclusions: A significant correlation between the degree of occlusal trauma and the signal intensity of the periodontal ligament space suggests a new potential MRI-based method for objectively determining occlusal trauma.