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Updated: Aug 15, 2026
Systematic Assessment of Mammalian Skull Specimens for Dental and Temporomandibular Joint Pathology
Published on: August 22, 2022
Radiographic follow-up of diseased temporomandibular joints
Hiroshi Kurita1, Shinobu Uehara, Hironori Sakai
1Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan. hkurita@hsp.md.shinshu-u.ac.jp
Objective:
The objective of this study was to assess the long-term course of radiographically evident degenerative changes of the soft and hard tissues of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) in patients with TMJ disorders.
Study Design:
Twenty-one patients (33 joints) were included in the study. The results of radiographic assessments at the first visit and at least 46 months after the first visit (mean 96.0 months) were compared.
Results:
All subjects had a good clinical course after a favorable response to treatment. Radiographic assessment showed that there was a statistically significant change in disk morphology during the intervening years, with the disks becoming more deformed (P < .05, McNemar test). On the other hand, there was no significant change in the condylar morphology or size.
Conclusions:
Most of the acute and destructive radiographically visible degenerative changes were arrested or slowed in the patients whose symptoms and signs were successfully resolved or reduced, while disk deformation significantly progressed.
