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Abstract: Thirty-one patients were assessed for changes in pain and maximal mouth opening (MMO) before and after total temporomandibular joint (TMJ) replacement. All prosthetic joint replacements used the Christensen fossa-eminence prosthesis system; 18 were unilateral and 13 bilateral. There were more women (n =22) than men (n =9), and their mean age was 45 years (women 46, range 18–74, and men 42, range 28–69). Indications for replacement included osteoarthritis, ankylosis, and “other”. There were overall significant improvements in pain scores for the whole group at one year (95% CI 6.3–8.5 compared with 0.2–3.0) and for women alone (6.5 to 9.2 compared with −0.5 to 2.0). There were also significant improvements in pain scores in both those with osteoarthritis (95% CI 8.1 to 8.9 compared with −0.8 to 3.8) and the group with “other” diagnoses at the 12-month follow-up (95% CI 4.4 to 10.7 compared with −0.2 to 0.5). Finally, there was a significant improvement in MMO in the whole group at the time of 12-month follow-up (95% CI 15.8–23.5 compared with 24.0–32.3). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We describe the outcome of 46 patients 12 months after partial or total replacement of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) using the Christensen implant system (TMJ Implants Inc, Golden, CO, USA). The study group comprised 35 women and 11 men; the women were slightly older than the men at the time of operation. We studied three diagnostic groups in detail: patients who had ankylosis, internal derangement, and osteoarthritis. Those with ankylosis were slightly older than the others. Pain decreased over time in all three groups. There was a significant reduction between preoperative pain and that recorded 1 month postoperatively. After this point the pain decreased slowly, and by year 1 it had decreased significantly with respect to preoperative scores. Women reported worse preoperative pain than men, but not significantly so. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]