Degenerative bone changes in TMJ assessed by cone beam computed tomography

Alterações ósseas degenerativas na ATM avaliadas por tomografia computadorizada de feixe cônico

Objective  To assess the degenerative bone changes of the jaw head and the condylar mobility regarding gender and age.

Methods  The sample was composed of 106 CBCT images for TMJ region from patients over 18 years old, from both genders, from the archives of a radiological clinic in the city of Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil. The images were obtained from patients in maximum intercuspal and maximum mouth opening. The images were examined by a radiologist, through the software Xoran CAT^(r), using a monitor with high resolution of and maximum color quality (12 bits) in a low light environment. It was assessed tomographic aspects of bone degenerative changes (flattening, erosion, osteophytes, bone sclerosis and pseudocyst) of both TMJ of each patient. The association among the degenerative changes of the jaw head, gender and age were investigated through Fisher's exact test, G-test and chi-squared test. The data obtained regarding condylar mobility (normo, hyper and hypoexcursion), location (right unilateral, left unilateral and bilateral) were also submitted to descriptive analysis in terms of absolute and relative frequency.

Results  The most frequent bone alteration was flattening (58.5%), followed by osteophytes (44.3%), erosion (22.6%), sclerosis (13.2%) and pseudocyst (10.4%). Regarding condylar mobility it was observed that normoexcursion (71.7%) was more prevalent.

Conclusion  The degenerative bone changes occurred more frequently among women and in bilateral location and there was an increasing of alterations according the age. It was not found correlation among condylar mobility and the presence of degenerative bone alterations of the TMJ.

Indexing terms:
Temporomandibular joint; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography; Osteoarthritis.