Modern x-ray diagnostics potential in studying morphological features of the temporal bone mandibular fossa

Abstract

Based on the data obtained through panoramic radiograph analysis and cone-beam computed tomograms involving 213 patients (21-35 y.o.) featuring physiological occlusion and various gnathic and dental types of dental arches, a method has been developed to allow identifying the index of temporomandibular joints' articular fossae, taken as the ratio of the sagittal and the vertical sizes. The study revealed that in case of physiological occlusion there are three major types of the temporal bone articular fossa to be identified: dolichotemporal - short and high; brachytemporal - long and low; mesotemporal - proportional. It has been proven that with different physiological occlusions, the average type of the articular fossa is typical of those with mesognathic normodontic, brachygnathic macrodontic, and dolichognathic microdontic dental arches, while the articular fossa index is 1.84 +/- 0.21, 1.74 +/- 0.13 and 1.82 +/- 0.24, respectively. The systematization of the data from morphometric studies suggests that in case of physiological retrusion, the articular fossa value index is significantly lower compared to the average type of the articular fossa, whereas it is statistically higher in case we observe protrusion