Male adolescent facial pattern associated with TMJ disk displacement and reduction in disk length: Part II

Dental practitioners continually strive to understand and determine which factors influence craniofacial morphology and how these factors may be controlled to provide the best treatment outcome for patients. Recently, an association between internal derangement of the TMJ and altered facial morphology was shown in an adolescent female sample by means of multiple regression techniques. The present study aims to determine whether similar associations are present between facial patterns exhibited by a preorthodontic male sample (n = 70) and varying degrees of TMJ internal derangement as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging. Multiple regression techniques were used to test the associations in 5 facial regions. Associations between internal derangement and craniofacial morphology differed in 3 of the facial regions when males and females were compared. However, associations between internal derangement and alteration in mandibular morphology and positioning were consistent in both gender groups.