Application effect of a minimal tragus incision for anchoring the temporomandibular joint disc
NIU Qiang
LI Yun-peng
ZHANG Jun-rui
GUO Wei-wei
ZHOU Shan-luo
LIU Fu-wei
LI Zhi-ye
LYU Yao-guang
Abstract：Objective To evaluate the therapeutic effect of minimal tragus incision applied in temporomandibular joint disc anchorage(TMJ-DA).Methods The clinical and imaging data of 21 patients(27 sides)with anterior disc displace-ment without reduction(ADDWoR)who underwent TMJ-DA with a minimal tragus incision were retrospectively ana-lyzed.The maximal mouth opening(MMO),maximal protrusive movement(PM),left/right maximal lateral movement(LLM/RLM),visual analogue scale(VAS)pain score,disc length,condylar height and the Fricton indexes[including mandibular movement(MM),joint noise(JN),joint palpation(JP),muscle palpation(MP),dysfunction index(DI),pal-pation index(PI)and craniomandibular index(CMI)]were compared preoperatively and at six months postoperatively.Additionally,the efficacy of disc reposition was evaluated.Results Twenty-one patients exhibited significant im-provements in MMO,PM,LLM and RLM at six months af-ter surgery[being(41.33±3.06)mm,(9.09±0.89)mm,(10.09±1.09)mm,and(9.95±1.20)mm]compared with those before operation[being(32.05±6.29)mm,(6.90±1.81)mm,(7.95±2.36)mm,and(7.57±2.27)mm](all P＜0.05).Additionally,compared to preoperative levels,the VAS pain score and Friction indexes(excluding JN)showed a significant decrease at six months after surgery(all P＜0.05).MRI examination results indicated that 85.2％(23/27)of the disc reposition effects were rated as excellent,while 14.8％(4/27)were rated as good.The disc's length at six months after surgery was significantly increased[post-opera-tion:(9.29±1.35)mm;pre-operation:(7.62±1.44)mm](t=-7.293,P＜0.001),while there was no significant differ-ence in condylar height between before surgery and at six months after surgery(t=-1.468,P=0.154).Conclusion TMJ-DA can be performed through the minimal tragus incision,and it is an effective method for reposition of temporo-mandibular joint disc,which improves MMO,relieves pain and restores the TMJ function.
Keywords：temporomandibular jointanterior disc displacement without reductiontemporomandibular joint disc anchor-ageminimal tragus incision
Publication Date：2025-03-30
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 183-187,194 )