Effect of Arthrocentesis on Symptomatic Osteoarthritis of the Temporomandibular Joint and Analysis of the Effect of Preoperative Clinical and Radiologic Features

For most patients, arthrocentesis offers long-term favorable outcomes for symptomatic TMJ osteoarthritis that has not responded to nonsurgical treatments and otherwise would have required surgical arthroplasty. Severity of preoperative clinical and computerized tomographic findings is not predictive for the success of arthrocentesis. In addition, the lack of correlation between the clinical and radiologic findings negates the commonly used Wilkes classification, which presumes that the clinical signs and symptoms deteriorate together with radiologic changes.