The purpose of this study was to clarify the clinical characteristic and to find the mechanism of impediment in condylar movement in case of adhesion of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) without disk displacement.
Three subjects who had adhesion of TMJ were selected from the 170 temporomandibular disorders (TMD) patients.
The subjects were reevaluated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and double contrast arthrotomography was done to clarify the pathology of TMJ.
Clinical signs and symptoms were measured quantitatively, and compared with the other type of TMD.
The results were as follows:
From the result of double contrast arthrotomography, each subject had adhesion of TMJ; therefore, adhesion can be an obstacle to condyle movement.
MRI showed each TMJ had a stuck disk; therefore, estimation of the stuck disk can assist to diagnose the adhesion of TMJ.
The pain, characteristic of condyle movement and TMJ sound were quite similar to ADDwo/r. This revealed that it is difficult to distinguish TMJ adhesion without disk displacement from ADDwo/r by clinical examination only.
From the 2 cases who had clicking sound, the sound of opening and closing were near to the centric occlusion and were generated at the same place in condylar movement. Therefore those characteristic sounds can be useful to diagnose adhesion of TMJ.