Insights of TMJ through advanced imaging

Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are clinical manifestations of disorders causing pain and dysfunction in the Temporomandibular Joints (TMJs) and masticatory muscles. TMJ abnormalities cannot be reliably assessed by a clinical examination.Radiographic examination forms an integral component for the routine assessment in patients with temporomandibular joint disorders. Latest imaging modality is making life easy for those clinicians who must evaluate the hard and the soft tissue of the temporomandibular joint complex in patients with TMDs. Conventional radiographic TMJ projections like transpharyngeal, transcranial, panoramic radiograph, conventional tomographic sections of TMJ may be adequate in number of clinical situations but there are bony alterations that occur in these disorders like erosions, osteophytes, pneumatisation of articular eminence that are difficult to be detected in the conventional radiographs due to overlapping of anatomical structures. So the advanced imaging techniques such as MRI, Ultrasonography, CBCTare required for the understanding of diseases of Temporomandibular Joint.This paper aims to cover all the latest imaging modalities that can be helpful in the diagnosis of Temporomandibular Joint Disorders.