Quality-of-life survey comparing patients before and after discectomy of the temporomandibular joint.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to assess the quality-of-life (QoL) outcomes of patients who had undergone temporomandibular joint (TMJ) discectomy with dermis-fat grafting compared with a cohort of closely matched patients who had not had surgery.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study of 61 patients was undertaken. All patients completed a TMJ surgery-specific QoL questionnaire. They were divided into 2 groups according to whether they had undergone TMJ discectomy (postsurgical group, n = 32) or not (presurgical group, n = 29). The 2 groups were closely matched for age, gender, clinical presentation, and radiologic diagnoses of Wilkes stage IV TMJ internal derangement.


RESULTS
Post-TMJ surgery patients showed statistically significant decreases in pain levels (P < .05), diet and chewing (P < .01), mood (P < .01), anxiety (P < .01), and general health (P < .05) compared with the presurgical patients. However, there were no statistically significant differences between the pre- and post-TMJ surgery groups in terms of speech, level of activity, recreation, and general well-being.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study suggest that TMJ discectomy with dermis-fat grafting appears to have a positive QoL effect in terms of reducing pain levels and improving diet and chewing, mood, anxiety, and general health in patients with Wilkes stage IV TMJ internal derangement.
Dimitroulis
George
G
Department of Surgery, St Vincent's Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. geodim@netspace.net.au
McCullough
Michael
M
Morrison
Wayne
W
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D019224:Temporomandibular Joint Disc / Q000601:surgery*; D013705:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders / Q000601:surgery*; D055815:Young Adult