1993 Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 127-134
To the best of our knowledge, “Spontaneous anterior dislocation”, a kind of temporomandibular joint disk abnormality with definitive differential diagnosis has not been reported yet. In this paper, a patient whose right temporomandibular joint had clinical signs and symptoms quite similar to anterior disk dislocation with reduction is reported.
A 11-year-old female patient had had click in the right temporomandibular joint for 3 years. The maximum interincisal opening was 46mm. Initial click occurred at 40mm of opening and the closing click at 18mm. The right temporomandibular joint area was slightly tender to palpation. No abnormal findings were observed regarding the bony articular surfaces on the polytomograph. The sagittal condylar movement pattern of the right temporomandibular joint showed atypical figure 8 pattern by Axiograph® examination.
Magnetic resonance in the sagittal plane of the right temporomandibular joint demonstrated normal superior disk position at the closed position, and also demonstrated the disk position anterior to the condyle in maximum opening.
From these findings, we diagnosed this case as a “Spontaneous anterior dislocation” of the right temporomandibular joint disk.
