Assessment of TMJ Disorders Using Ultrasonography as a Diagnostic Tool: A Review

Temporomandibular disorders affect nearly 10-70% of population. Hence, a proper diagnosis of temporomandibular disorders using appropriate diagnostic aids is required. Thus, the purpose of this review was to check the use of ultrasonography as a diagnostic aid in the detection of TMJ disorders.A literature review was performed in Pub Med Central and Cochrane library using Mesh Terms - 'ultrasonography' and 'TMJ disorders'. Out of the total 113 titles appeared, 38 were related to the research question. Further search criteria were applied to the articles, out of which 11 articles fulfilled the criteria and were selected for the review. Two articles which were hand searched were also included. Sensitivity of ultrasonography in detecting TMJ disorders in a majority of articles ranged from 41%-90% in disc displacement, when MRI was taken as the gold standard. In case of TMJ Effusion and Condylar effusion, sensitivities ranged from 20-80% and 83% respectively. It was also seen that sensitivity increased with increase in frequency of transducer. In the available literature, it was found that ultrasonography was an acceptable diagnostic tool for detection of disc displacement, condylar erosion and articular effusion.