The validity of transcranial radiography in diagnosis of internal derangement

Lee, In Song; Ahn, Sug Joon; Kim, Tae Woo

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether association exists between temporomandibular joint (TMJ) characteristics in transcranial radiographs and TMJ internal derangement and to evaluate the validity of transcranial radiographs in diagnosis of internal derangement. Transcranial radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of 113 TMJs from 76 subjects were used for this study and all TMJs were classified into 3 groups according to the results of MRI: normal disk position, disk displacement with reduction, and disk displacement without reduction. Transcranial analysis included linear measurement of joint spaces and condylar head angle measurement. To determine any relationship between transcranial measurements according to disk displacement, one-way ANOVA was used. The results showed that condyle-fossa relationship in standard transcranial radiographs had no relationships with disk displacement. And, as disk displacement progressed, condylar angle between head and neck increased significantly. This result can be interpreted that condylar head angle reflects structural hard tissue change according to internal derangement progress. But this is insufficient in the determination of internal derangement. Therefore, although still clinically helpful, the validity of standard transcranial radiographs to diagnose TMJ internal derangement was questioned.