1994 Volume 4 Issue 2 Pages 156-162
Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) ankylosis in infancy may affect the growth of the mandible and lead to a micrognathia. Bilateral TMJ ankylosis may result in bird face appearance and unilateral TMJ ankylosis may result in an asymmetrical face. In this article, we report a case of micrognathia with unilateral TMJ ankylosis from 6 to 19 years old.
A 6-year-old girl visited our clinic with a complaint of mouth opening disturbance. As an initial therapy, she underwent training of mouth opening with a mouth gag. When she was 10 years old, she had increased in interincisal distance up to 10mm. There after, she did not visit our clinic. When 16 years old, she visited us with severe disturbance of mouth opening and an asymmetrical face. At that time, TMJ ankylosis was diagnosed, and condylectomy and coronoidectomy were performed. In order to improve facial asymmetry and occlusal relationship in anticipation of orthognatic surgery, preoperative orthodontic treatments were performed. In a 3-year follow-up, she exhibited mouth opening disturbance and micrognathia. When19years old, simultaneous TMJ mobilization and sagital splitting osteotomy of the ramus were performed. The patient had satisfactory mouth opening movement and improvement in facial symmetry.
