Diagnostic imaging assessment of temporomandibular joint pain

Abstract

In the diagnostic process imaging is frequently performed for confirmation of pain symptoms or imaging-based signs were used for conclusions on pain. Therefore, the aim of this review was to show evidence about the association between temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain - as a subgroup of orofacial pain conditions - and findings on TMJ images. By handsearch and computer-based search statements of clinical studies, especially of the past 20 years, were collected and critically assessed. In the literature there exist some references to and indications for an association between TMJ pain and structure-based findings on TMJ images, i.e. morphology of the condyle, condyle-fossa relationship, form and position of the disc, signs of effusion of the upper resp. lower joint compartment, bone marrow signal abnormalities of the condyle, signal characteristics of the retrodiscal tissue. Despite some hints the relation between TMJ pain and so-called abnormalities on TMJ images remains unclear, complex and little predictive in individual cases.