EVALUATION OF DIAGNOSTIC-CRITERIA FROM COMPUTERIZED AXIOGRAPHY TO DETECT INTERNAL DERANGEMENTS OF THE TMJ

Objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of 3-D co mputed axiography to detect anterior disk displacements (ADD) of the T MJ. 65 patients with MRI confirmed ADD with reduction and 27 patients with ADD without reduction were examined by 3-D computed axiography. 4 4 healthy volunteers with normal disk position and joint function serv ed as controls. A descriptive analysis of the axiographic opening/clos ing cycle revealed significantly higher rates of abrupt deviations, ac celerations/decelerations, and crossings for ADD with reduction compar ed to healthy volunteers. A new axiographic index reduced the number o f false positive to 10% and false negative to 14% of the diagnosis wit hout reduction was characterized by significantly shorter opening curv es. The optimum split Manuscript received point at 11 mm, resulted in 10% false positive and 20% false negative diagnosis. However, the diag nostic value of computed axiography was reduced by the significant inf luence of the clicking or limited joint on the contralateral TMJ.