Prospective evaluation of temporomandibular joint patholo-gies in scoliosis patients by USG and clinical examination

There are many causes in the etiology of temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD), and posture disorders are one of them. The relationship between the spine and the stomatognathic system is very important for the multidisciplinary treatment of TMD, which has a high incidence in the community. 50 patients aged 12-18 years with a diagnosis of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis followed by the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology of Istanbul University Is-tanbul Medical Faculty and 50 healthy individuals in the same age group were included in the study. Clinical examination and ultrasonographic evaluation for TMJ were per-formed on these patients, and the obtained data were compared and analyzed. The mean age of the patients included in the groups was 14.68 ± 1.81 in the control group (n: 50) and 14.69 ± 2.73 in the scoliosis group (n: 50). The mean mouth opening was 40.50 mm in the scoliosis group and 43.44 mm in the control group, and a significant difference was found between the two groups (p:0.002). In the scoliosis group, a moderate negative correlation was observed between the Cobb angle value, which indicates the severity of the curvature, and the mouth opening (p:0.023; r:-0.320). Masseter muscle thickness was 8.91 mm in the scoliosis group and 9.41 mm in the control group (p:0.036). TMJ irregularities were found to be significantly higher in the scoliosis group than in the control group (p<0.001). It was observed that a 1-unit increase in joint space elastography value increased the probability of diagnosis of disc displacement with reduction 4.81 times (p:0.009; 95%CI: 1.47-15.73). As a result of our study, it was determined that scoliosis causes predisposition to TMD and joint elastography is a valuable numerical data in the diagnosis of TMD.