Investigation of the impacts of temporomandibular joint pathology and antemortem tooth loss on three‐dimensional craniofacial shape

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of TMJ disorder and alveolar resorption accompanying antemortem tooth loss on the 3D morphology of the human skull. Coordinate data were digitized 68 cranial landmarks to capture skull shape in two samples: individuals exhibiting TMJ disorder or alveolar resorption secondary to tooth loss, and non-pathological specimens from the same populations. The raw data from these specimens were divided into different anatomical subsets, including the basicranium, palate, upper face, and temporal bone, and registered using a Generalized Procrustes Analysis. To determine whether statistically significant differences existed between the pathological and comparative samples in cranial shape, Procrustes ANOVA was performed, Procrustes and Mahalanobis distances calculated and compared, Discriminant Function Analysis run, and a Principle Components Analysis. Both alveolar resorption and TMJ pathology were found to significantly affect cranial structure. The shape of the mid and upper face including the zygomatic and nasal regions, was substantially altered in individuals with alveolar resorption. Individuals with TMJ pathology exhibited significant changes in palatal morphology, suggesting remodeling of alveolar bone, likely due to the altered masticatory patterns observed in individuals with this condition. Grant Funding Source: NSF BCS-0622570 and the Wenner-Gren Foundation (Grant #7499)