[Fracture of the mandibular condyle in a skeleton dating from the early middle ages (author's transl)].

The skeleton of a 45 to 50 year-old man dating from the early Middle Ages (discovered at Schwechat in Lower Austria) was examined. In addition to numerous pathological findings with respect to the masticatory apparatus such as caries, severe crown abrasion, pulp necrosis and inflammatory and degenerative alterations in the areas near the teeth, an exceptionally rare findings was observed, namely that of a deformation of the right mandibular condyle. The differential diagnosis on the basis of the radiological findings showed the presence of post-traumatic transformation processes with functional adaptation. Since anatomical specimens of completely healed jawbone fractures are exhibited only rarely in recent case histories, this findings takes on a special significance from the medical as well as from the archeological and anthropological points of view.