TOMOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT OF TEMPOROMANDIBULAR JOINTS IN PATIENTS WITH MALOCCLUSION

There is a paucity of information on the morphological assessment of t he temporomandibular joint in relation to varying skeletal and dental relationships. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the morpholog ic relationship of the condyle and fossa in patients with different ma locclusions and skeletal relationships. Pretreatment records of 232 or thodontic patients, 95 males and 137 females, of Caucasian descent and ranging in age from 9 years 4 months to 42 years 6 months, were exami ned. Records included dental casts, lateral cephalometric radiographs, hand-wrist radiographs, and corrected tomograms of right and left TM joints. Nonconcentricity and mild asymmetry of the condyle-fossa relat ionship were commonly observed. The left condyle was found to be more anteriorly positioned than the right, with the mean percentage of join t space being 6.93% on the left side and -1.24% on the right. Skeletal and dental Class III patients demonstrated significantly more anterio rly positioned condyles (P<0.05). There were no significant difference s in condylar position between Class I and Class II groups based on AN B or Angle's classification. Further, no significant difference in con dylar position was observed between groups based on overbite or crossb ite.