Rheumatoid Arthritis of the Temporomandibular Joint

Abstract

Abstract In a detailed study of 100 consecutive cases of rheumatoid arthritis, clinical abnormalities were present in the temporomandibular joints in 71.0 per cent of patients compared with 41.1 per cent of a group of matched controls. This difference is highly significant (P < 0.0005). Circular tomography was used to study the joints radiologically. By this technique, which does not appear to have been used previously in a study of this nature, 78.7 per cent of the rheumatoid patients' joints showed abnormalities compared with 33.9 per cent of the control joints. This difference is also highly significant (P < 0.0005). Certain clinical and radiological features appeared to be almost specific for rheumatoid arthritis and to correlate with increasing severity of the disease. Rheumatoid arthritis appears to affect the temporomandibular joint more commonly than was at one time thought.