Changes in pain and mouth opening at 1 year following temporomandibular joint replacement--a prospective study

We describe the outcome of 46 patients 12 months after partial or total replacement of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) using the Christensen implant system (TMJ Implants Inc, Golden, CO, USA). The study group comprised 35 women and 11 men; the women were slightly older than the men at the time of operation. We studied three diagnostic groups in detail: patients who had ankylosis, internal derangement, and osteoarthritis. Those with ankylosis were slightly older than the others. Pain decreased over time in all three groups. There was a significant reduction between preoperative pain and that recorded 1 month postoperatively. After this point the pain decreased slowly, and by year 1 it had decreased significantly with respect to preoperative scores. Women reported worse preoperative pain than men, but not significantly so.