Abstract:

Introduction:
Last dental degree course students must cope with clinical practice as a professional in a short period of time. The teachers of course integrated dental clinic (IOC) not only help these students on the practical level, also create tools for the diagnosis and treatment of different diseases in patients.
The Craniomandibular dysfunction (DCM) or temporomandibular disorders are a set of functional alterations of the oral cavity, that affect temporomandibular joints (ATMs), to the masticatory muscles, and related structures of the head and neck. The oral cavity is complex and requires a thorough knowledge of anatomy and physiology of their structural components. Alterations in any of them or a combination of alterations in teeth, periodontal ligament, the temporomandibular joint or masticatory muscles, with the time can produce DCM. This patology affects mostly adults, although the presence of signs and symptoms in children is becoming more common.
This article explains the development of an educational tool that students of 5th course of dentistry degree can use to facilitate the learning of the diagnosis of DCM in children.

Material and method:
In this article is conducted a bibliographic review on DCM in pediatric patients that allowed the teachers of the subject IOC design a specific tool that allows students to diagnose the existence of signs or symptoms of DCM in early ages. Parents and patients answered a questionnaire addressed by the students. A clinical exploration of certain anatomical areas involved in this dysfunction, was also addressed by a teacher specialist in DCM from whom the students learned how to make an exploration and an adequate diagnosis of the existence of signs or symptoms of DCM. During the school year 2015-2016, as a preliminary study, we made a total of 36 reviews and questionnaires to patients aged 7 to 13 attending clinical practices.

Results:
The realization of this questionnaire was found satisfactory in clinical practices of 5th course of Odontology of the UCM.
The preliminary study showed that 100% of the children evaluated presented any sign or symptom of DCM and even 77.8% of the patients presented more than 3 signs of DCM. By this we believe that it is important to include in the educational process of the students, this teaching method for early diagnosis of this pathology.

Keywords:

Craniomandibular dysfunction, temporomandibular disorders, children, teaching tool.