Common symptoms include: 1  Pain or tenderness in your face, jaw joint area, neck and shoulders, and in or around the ear when you chew, speak, or open your mouth wide. 2  Problems when you try to open your mouth wide. 3  Jaws that get stuck or lock in the open-or closed-mouth position.
Fimbriae: 1  Structure: Similar to pili, but shorter and more abundant on the cell surface. 2  Function: Adhesion of cells to surface and formation of pellicles (biofilms) containing thin sheets of cells on a liquid surface.
This ability of fimbriae to stick to epithilial cells leads to many diseases transmitted via mucous membranes, including gonorrhoeae, bacterial meningitis and infections of internal medical devices and indwelling catheters. The following are descriptions of three species of pathogenic bacteria that rely on their fimbriae to cause disease.