The prevalence of osteoarthrosis in cases of advanced internal derangement of the Temporomandibular Joint: a clinical, surgical and histological study

The clinical and radiological diagnoses of advanced TMJ internal derangement correlated with histological findings of degeneration and inflammation of the articular disk in all 22 specimens. The 8 specimens obtained from the condylar head showed histological features consistent with osteoarthrosis. This study showed that osteoarthrosis and internal derangement were found to co-exist in the same joint in about one-third of cases. The fact that osteoarthrosis was not found in all cases suggests that perhaps the widely held view that subclinical osteoarthrosis may lead to pathologic tissue responses in the form of internal derangement will need to be re-examined.