Anterior condylar remodeling observed in stabilization splint therapy for temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis.

Objective: To comparatively evaluate condylar surface bone formation and cortical thickening in patients with temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis, with or without stabilization splint (SS) therapy.

Study Design: This retrospective study of 57 OA patients included 18 patients who had undergone SS therapy (SS group), compared with 39 patients that had not received SS therapy (non-SS group). To evaluate osseous changes on the condylar bone formation and cortical thickening, pre- and post-treatment cone beam computed tomography images of each patient were superimposed using voxel registration.

Results: The SS group exhibited a higher ratio of bone formation in the anterior division of the condyle; the non-SS group exhibited mostly no change. The SS group was found to have higher frequencies of cortical thickening in the anteromedial, anterior-intermediate, anterolateral, posteromedial, and posterior-intermediate sections than the non-SS group.

Conclusions: SS therapy in temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis induced favorable bone remodeling in the anterior division of the condylar head.