Discectomy without replacement for the treatment of painful reciprocal clicking or catching and chronic closed lock of the temporomandibular joint: a clinical follow-up audit.
Our main aim was to find out if the outcome after temporomandibular joint (TMJ) discectomy differed between patients diagnosed with chronic closed lock and those with reciprocal clicking. A further aim was to identify factors that could have an adverse influence on the outcome of discectomy. The study was designed as a prospective, clinical, follow-up audit. A total of 51 patients were included, 24 diagnosed with closed lock and 27 with reciprocal clicking. All patients had a TMJ discectomy and were followed up for 6 months. The treatment was regarded as successful when the maximal interincisal opening postoperatively was 35 mm or more, and the subjective scoring of functional impairment and pain (rated on a10-point visual analogue scale) showed at least 40% improvement or was rated less than 4. Both groups showed significant improvements (p<0.0001). There was a significant difference in outcome only for pain between the 2 groups using our criteria for success. An unsuccessful outcome seems to correlate with chronic closed lock without preceding clicking and a previous unsuccessful arthroscopy. Discectomy seems to be a good choice of treatment for patients with reciprocal clicking or chronic closed lock of the TMJ, and is associated with a low incidence of complications.
Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Department of Dental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet/Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden. Electronic address: Anders.Holmlund@ki.se.
Anders
A
Holmlund
Bodil
B
Lund
Carina Krüger
CK
Weiner
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001182:Arthroscopy / Q000379:methods; D019230:Dental Audit; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D004204:Joint Dislocations / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008409:Mastication / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology; D013016:Sound; D019224:Temporomandibular Joint Disc / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013705:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
Chronic closed lock; Discectomy; Reciprocal clicking; TMJ