A woman with ankylosis of the temporomandibular joint

A 56-year-old woman was referred to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon because of facial stiffness and restricted mouth opening, 13 years after receiving multiple mandible fractures in a car accident. After clinical investigation and computer tomography, ankylosis of the right temporomandibular joint was diagnosed. The patient was treated by means of gap-arthroplasty, in which a myofascial flap of the temporalis muscle was used as an interposition transplant. After a period of physiotherapy, an acceptable recovery of the mouth opening was achieved. Traumatic injury is by far the most prevalent etiology of temporomandibular joint ankylosis, followed by an infection of the temporomandibular joint. Treatment consists basically of a gap-arthroplasty, with or without interposing a transplant between the ramus mandibulae and the joint socket or resection of the ankylotic tissues followed by reconstruction of the mandibular caput with an autologue transplant or an alloplastic material.