Quality-of-Life Survey Comparing Patients Before and After Discectomy of the Temporomandibular Joint

Abstract

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess the quality-of-life (QoL) outcomes of patients who had undergone temporomandibular joint (TMJ) discectomy with dermis-fat grafting compared with a cohort of closely matched patients who had not had surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 61 patients was undertaken. All patients completed a TMJ surgery-specific QoL questionnaire. They were divided into 2 groups according to whether they had undergone TMJ discectomy (postsurgical group, n = 32) or not (presurgical group, n = 29). The 2 groups were closely matched for age, gender, clinical presentation, and radiologic diagnoses of Wilkes stage IV TMJ internal derangement. RESULTS: ..