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Objectives Prolotherapy is a method that has gained popularity in recent years and has been reported to have positive short-term and long-term clinical results in maxillofacial surgery, especially temporomandibular joint (TMJ) hypermobility. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in the trabecular structure of mandibular condyles in patients who underwent prolotherapy due to TMJ hypermobility using the fractal analysis method.
Materials and Methods Forty-five patients who received dextrose prolotherapy at a concentration of 20% and fifteen control patients were included in the study. All patients had panoramic radiographs just before (T0) and six months after treatment (T1). The patients who received treatment were divided into three groups according to the number of prolotherapy injections. The regions of interest were selected from bone areas close to the articular surfaces of the condyles. The fractal dimension (FD) values were calculated.
Results The main effect of time on the FD value was significant [F (1, 56)=86.176, P<0.001]. This effect was qualified by a significant time×group interaction effect [F (3, 56)=9.023, P<0.001]. The decreases in FD values in all treatment groups between T0 and T1 times were significant (P=0.004). However, changes in FD values were not significant in the control group (P=0.728).
Conclusion Dextrose prolotherapy without the effect of the number of injections caused a decrease in FD values in the mandibular condyles over time.
Fig. 2
Fractal dimension analysis process. A. Region of interest. B. Blurred image of the cropped and duplicated region of interest. C. Subtracted blurred image from the original image. D. Addition of a grey value of 128 to each pixel location. E. Binarization. F. Erosion. G. Dilatation. H. Inversion. I. Skeletonization.
Fig. 3
Selection of regions of interest on the panoramic radiograph.
Fig. 4
Distribution of the fractal dimension values of the right-sided condyles. (T0: before treatment, T1: six months after treatment)
Fig. 5
Distribution of the fractal dimension values of the left-sided condyles. (T0: before treatment, T1: six months after treatment)
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