Silicon in temporomandibular joint ankylosis surgery

Temporomandibular joint ankylosis frequently occurs succeeding untreated or not adequately treated mandible fractures. Treatment of this condition wit h combined condylectomy and silicon sheet/block application was investigate d in the literature. Thirty-eight patients with temporomandibular joint ank ylosis were included in this study, and postoperative results were presente d. Mean preoperative and postoperative sixth-month interincisor opening val ues were 5.8 and 28.8 mm, respectively. In two patients (5.2%), another ope ration to remove silicon material was needed because of infection and expos ure of the silicon. One patient (2.6%) was operated on again for limited mo uth opening. It was concluded that interpositional arthroplasty with silico n was proved to be a low-cost, easy approach with satisfactory long-term re sults.