Comparison of condylar positions at intercuspal and reference positions in patients with condylar bone change

The purpose of this study was to investigate the condylar displacement from intercuspal position (IP) to reference position (RP), using a jaw movement measuring system with 6 d.f. and helical computed tomography (CT). The 19 patients included in the present study were divided into a group with bilateral condylar bone change (10 subjects, including the sub-groups with flattening and osteophyte formation) and a group with no condylar bone change (9 subjects). The results showed that the bone change group had significantly more superior, posterior and absolute horizontal IP to RP slides than the no bone change group. There was also a significant difference in the amount of antero-posterior and supero-inferior condylar IP-RP displacements related to the type of condylar bone change within the bone change group. The osteophyte sub-group showed the largest posterior displacement, and the flattening sub-group showed the largest superior displacement. These results suggested that this large IP-RP difference in the bone change group might be related to their temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pathology, and it might therefore be useful to keep this difference in mind as one of the clinical indices suggesting the presence of TMJ osteoarthritis (OA).