The radiographic and surgical evaluation of meniscal dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint.

A retrospective study of 106 patients who underwent temporomandibular joint surgery for meniscal dysfunction was conducted. The patients were evaluated by tomography and arthrography of the temporomandibular joint and abnormalities of the hard and soft tissue structures were determined by these investigations and compared directly with the findings at surgical examination. Tomography had a high degree of correlation with bony pathology as did arthrography with meniscal displacement. The arthrogram also frequently revealed the presence of meniscal scarring associated with the head of condyle in long-standing cases, but gave an incidence of 3% false/positive findings of a perforation of the meniscus.