Abstract
To analyze the growth of the glenoid fossa during the pediatric period, we measured the three dimensional reconstructed images using the helical CT. We selected 56 TM joints (28 cases) from the CT files of the department of Oral Radiology, Osaka Dental University and used them as materials. The CT of these patients (aged between 6 years and 12 years) was taken for the diagnosis with the exception of any influence of TMJ growth.
For these cases, we measured the distance following five points: the distance of the articular tubercle between each side, the distance of the postglenoid process between each side, the height of the inferior limited point of the articular tubercle and postglenoid process from FH plane and the height of superior limited point of the glenoid fossa. With these data, we compared the age and body weight factor of the patients.
The results were as follows:
1. The age factor had showed a greater relationship than the body weight factor concerning the distances of articular tubercle and postglenoid process between each side.
2. Concerning height, the age factor showed a greater correlation than the body weight factor. In addition this relationship was larger than that of the distance of the articular tubercle and postglenoid process.
3. Concerning the relationship of the height data with respect to age and body weight, the height of the articular tubercle showed a greater relationship than the height of the postglenoid process.
4. Each height data had showed a greater particular correlation to each other.
