Introduction. Osteoarthritis (OA) and disc displacement (DD) of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) belong to the arthrogenic group of temporomandibular disorders (TMD), which are the most common cause of orofacial musculoskeletal pain. Objectives. Clinical and radiological findings were compared between the patients with OA of TMJ with or without DD, and asymptomatic volunteers. Materials and methods. This study included 30 patients with OA of TMJs (mean age 52.6, 83% women) from a group of 140 TMD patients. All the patients were examined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) between 2001 and 2008 using RDC/TMD Axis I and manual functional analysis. The inclusion criteria for patients comprised: pain referred to the TMJ and/or crepitation – “gravel”-like or “cracking” effect in the TMJ. A control group consisted of 20 selected dental school students (mean age 23.5, 70% women) without any clinical signs or history of TMD. All subjects were informed of the type and purpose of diagnostic procedures. Execution of the study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Dental Medicine in Zagreb. Results. There were no degenerative changes of the condyle in TMJs of dental students. There is a statistically significant difference between degenerative changes of the condyle of TMJs with and without clinical signs of OA of patients (p=0.009). In 28% of osteoarthritic joints, flattening of condylar joint surfaces was observed and 17.4% of the joints were without clinical signs of OA. In 11.4% of symptomatic joints moderate sclerosis and in 22.9% pronounced sclerosis was found. Osteophyte formations were found in 8% of asymptomatic and 25.7% of joints with OA. There is a statistical significant difference between patients’ TMJs with and without OA (p=0.0003): pronounced shape loss and severe sclerosation of the articular eminence were found in 12% joints without OA, and 42.9% joint with OA. There is no difference between students’ joints and patients’ TMJs without OA (p=0.804). Conclusion. The most common imaging findings of osteoarthritic TMJs were sclerosis of the condyle and osteophyte formation. In healthy TMJs only minimal deplaned condyle and/or articular eminence was found, which was considered normal.

Kliničke medicinske znanosti,Stomatologija