MRI-based observation of the size and morphology of temporomandibular joint articular disc and condyle in young asymptomatic adults

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the size and morphology of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) articular disc and condyle in young asymptomatic adults by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to provide a reference for clinical diagnosis and scientific study of temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Methods: Overall, 93 undergraduate volunteers without TMD were enrolled from the freshmen pool at the Qingdao University. All participants underwent MRI of the oblique sagittal and oblique coronal TMJ planes. The articular disc and condyle were subsequently measured, and their morphology was evaluated. The obtained data were then grouped and analyzed statistically. Finally, intragroup correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to evaluate the interobserver measurement reliability. Results: We totally received 186 TMJ imaging samples. Based on our analysis, disc’s anterior band in young asymptomatic adult females were thicker than males of the same age (p = 0.024). Moreover, the media-lateral dimensions of the condylar head of adult females were shorter than males of equal age (P＜0.001). The bilateral articular disc morphology was the same in 72.4% of subjects while the condylar morphology was the same in 63.4% of participants. Finally, using measurement reliability assessment, we demonstrated that our conclusions are reliable (ICC ≥0.7). Conclusion: The thickness of the anterior band of the disc and the media-lateral dimensions of the condylar head were gender-related. Additionally, the morphology of the bilateral articular disc and condyle was different among the subset of young asymptomatic adults.

Comparison of magnetic resonance imaging findings in 880 temporomandibular disorder patients of different age groups: a retrospective study

“…And, Hosgor et al [ 9 ] reported joint effusion increased in direct proportion to the severity of pain and disc displacement. In terms of gender, Luo et al [ 10 ] investigated the size and morphology of articular disc and condyle in young asymptomatic adults and found the thickness of the anterior band of the disc and the media-lateral dimensions of the condylar head were gender-related. On the contrary, Demir et al [ 11 ] compared TMD patients' complaints, clinician's examination findings, and MRI findings by considering gender and found no significant difference.…”

Anatomical factors influencing temporomandibular joint clicking in young adults: temporomandibular joint structure disorder or lateral pterygoid muscle dysfunction?

“…In the present study, only these four articular disk shapes were found, with the proportions not differing significantly between the CMO, CMC, and CMOC and HC groups. In a previous study, the condylar morphology was divided into round, flattened, and beak-like shapes, with most asymptomatic volunteers showing a round condyle ( Luo, Qiu, et al, 2022a ). Since the condylar shape is closely related to condylar function, the condylar morphology in TMDs differs among patients ( Katsavrias and Halazonetis, 2005 ).…”

“…The articular disk and condylar morphologies were determined in the oblique sagittal plane (Luo, Qiu, et al, 2022a). The articular disk morphology was divided into six categories: biconcave, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology frontiersin.org thickening posterior, thickening anterior, biplanar, biconvex, and folded (Figure 2E).…”

“…TMJ clicking is the most common clinical symptom and sign of anterior disc displacement with reduction (ADDwR), with other symptoms including TMJ pain, lock jaw, and abnormal mouth opening ( Altaweel et al, 2019 ; Shen, Chen, Xie, Zhang and Yang, 2019 ). However, some young adults with TMDs present with an articular disk position in the anterior superior part of the condylar roof, without clinical symptoms of TMDs, such as TMJ clicking ( Luo, Yang, et al, 2022a ). Nevertheless, most young patients with TMJ clicking are not diagnosed with ADDwR.…”

Temporomandibular Disk Dislocation Impacts the Stomatognathic System: Comparative Study Based on Biexponential Quantitative T2 Maps

“…However, clinical assessment is only qualitative. Attempts have been made to assess TMJ with surface electromyography [ 2 ], cone beam computed tomography [ 8 , 9 ] and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) [ 10 , 11 , 12 ]. Therefore, we propose a quantitative method based on biexponential T2 maps for the analysis of the relationship between disk displacement and other stomatognathic structures.…”