Impact of Temporomandibular Joint Discectomy on Condyle Morphology: An Animal Study

Purpose Temporomandibular disorders lead to parafunctional activity that may alter bone remodeling of mandibular components. This animal study aimed to assess the impact of temporomandibular joint discectomy on condylar bone microarchitecture. Materials and Methods A total of 30 one-month-old Wistar rats were assessed and divided into 3 equal groups (2 test groups and 1 control group) of 10. The first test group underwent disc removal, the second test group underwent disc and condylar cartilage removal, and the 10 remaining rats were analyzed as sham-operated controls, following a split-mouth design. The rats were killed humanely 2 months after surgery, and the respective mandibles were scanned with micro–computed tomography for quantitative morphometric analysis. Results There were significant differences among the 3 groups analyzed (disc removal, disc and condylar cartilage removal, and sham-operated control) for bone volume fraction (ratio of bone volume to total volume, P  = .044), structure model index ( P P  = .024), and porosity ( P  = .023). In addition, operated and contralateral nonoperated sides significantly differed for all variables in at least 1 of the test groups ( P P  > .05). Conclusions Within the limitations of this study, our results suggest that discectomy may lead to alterations of the mandibular condylar morphology.