Relationship between patient characteristics, mandibular head morphology and thickness of the roof of the glenoid fossa in symptomatic temporomandibular joints

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this clinical study was to investigate the minimum thickness of the roof of the glenoid fossa (RGF) of grossly normal temporomandibular joints (TMJ) and to correlate this with patient gender, age and the morphological classification of the mandibular head. METHODS: The study was performed on 191 TMJs from 109 patients (25 male and 84 female, age range 3-79 years, mean age 28.1 years) who visited Nihon University Dental Hospital, Japan with suspected TMJ disorders. The patients underwent cone beam computed tomography (3DX CT) to enable observation of the morphological features of the mandibular head. The minimum thickness of the RGF was measured using frontal section images acquired by CT. The morphology of the mandibular heads was classified according to the method of Yale and colleagues. Mean linear measurements were used for statistical analyses of patient gender, age and mandibular head morphology. RESULTS: The average minimum thickness of the RGF was 0.79 mm. No significant difference in thickness was found between male and female patients. In addition, no differences were recorded as a result of variation in age or mandibular head morphology. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that RGF thickness is not significantly correlated with gender, age, or mandibular head morphology, at least in this cohort of patients.