Abstract
Dislocation of temporomandibular joint is usually apparent from deformation of facial configuration, jaw closing disturbance, malocclusion, etc. However, there are some cases in which the failure of reduction in the early stage for some reason or other results in obsolete dislocation which is difficult to repair.
We treated 2 cases of obsolete dislocation of temporomandibular joint, with the following results.
Case 1 is a 74-year-old female patient who, about 40 days after her visiting the departments of surgery and dentistry for bilateral dislocation of temporomandibular joint, came to our department with a complaint of masticatory disturbance. Closed reduction was performed under general anesthesia, and the patient has since been in satisfactory condition.
Case 2 is a 71-year-old male patient who, about 4 months after visiting the departments of dentistry and orthopedics, came to our department with a complaint of jaw closing disturbance. Closed reduction was performed without improvement and, therefore, open reduction was performed under general anesthesia. Because of the operation and the subsequent mouth opening exercise and close follow-up, the patient has had a favorable course to this day.
We also made a clinicostatistical analysis of the cases of temporomandibular joint dislocation reported during the decade from 1972 to 1981 in Japan.
