TEMPOROMANDIBULAR

JOINT

Oral Physiology
Dent 207
 TMJ in animals
 Ginglymoid joint
 Bilateral hinge
 Carnivores

 Arthrodial joint
 Flattened sliding joint
 Herbivore

 Hinge & sliding movement

 Omnivores (Human & pig)
 TMJ – skeletal components
 Above
 Anterior portion of mandibular
(glenoid) fossa of temporal bone
 Articular tubercle (eminence)
 Below
 Condyloid process of the
mandible

*Articular surfaces covered by

fibrocartilage
*Synovial joint
*Articular disc dividing the joint
into upper & lower cavities
*Mandible is a single bone
*Reciprocation
 Temporal component
 Glenoid fossa
 Articular eminence
 Articular surface
 Mandibular condyle
 Shape
 Oval with 2 different diameters
 Long axis inclined mesially
 Long axes meet at 150° in foramen magnum
 Sagittal section

 Articular surface
 Muscle insertion
 TMJ – soft components
 Capsule
 Ligaments
 Disc
 Synovial membrane
 Articular surfaces
 Capsule
 Attached above to the articular tubercle &
margins of mandibular fossa
 Attached below to the neck of the mandible
 Joint capsule
 Thickened laterally – lateral TM ligament
 No ligament needed medially – bilateral
joint
 Inner layer – synovial membrane (self-
reading)
 Synovial fluids
 Ligaments
 Lateral temporomandibular ligament
 Sphenomandibular ligament
 Stylomandibular ligament
 Articular disc
 Divides the joint into upper &
lower cavities
 Attachments
 Circumferentially to the capsule
 In front to the tendon of the
lateral pterygoid muscle
 Movement with the condyloid
process of the mandible
 Upper surface is
concavoconvex
anteroposteriorly
 Lower surface is concave
 Synovial membrane
 Lines the internal surface of the fibrous capsule
 Lines upper & lower cavities
 Lines the margins of the disc
 Does not cover the articular surfaces
 Secrets the synovial fluids
 Consists of
 a layer of flattened endothelial-like cell type, resting on
 a vascular layer
 Folded at rest & flattens out during movement
 Number of folded projections increase with age
 Synovial fluids
 Lubrication
 Nutrition
Adult TMJ
TMJ of the child
Condyle
•Fibrous articular
surface
•Proliferative zone
•Thicker secondary
condylar cartilage
•Ossification front
•Cancellous bone
 Intra-articular disc
 Joint space
 Disc
 Made of
 Fibroustissue
 Some elastic fibers posteriorly

 Shape
 Bilaminar zone
 Bilaminar zone
 Upper lamina
 Loose CT
 Allows protrusion & retrusion of the mandible
 Elastic & collagenous
 Blood vessels, nerves & adipose tissue
 Upper most layer
 Dense fibroelastic
 Lower lamina
 Dense fibroelastic
 Pass over head of condyle
 Disappear with periosteum
Bilaminar zone
 Functions of
TMJ
 Articulation
between the
mandible & the
cranium
 Growth of the
mandible
 Unique joint
 Reciprocal
 Disc
 Articular surfaces
  Disc moves with head of condyle
Disturbances - dysfunction
Joint

 Joint is not load-bearing at rest but
movement 
during mastication
Load carried on
 Anterior surface of condyle
 Distributed by the disc
 Jaw separation
 Hinge movement – 25 mm of
separation
 Sliding movement
 Maximum separation
 Condyle – articular eminence
 Jaw approximation
 Relatively smooth curve (as a hinge)
 Before teeth come into occlusion
 Back sliding
 Hinge movement in the back sliding
position
TMJ dysfunction
 Nerve supply of TMJ
 Main innervation
 Auriculotemporal nerve
 Messetric nerve
 Deep temporal
 Nerve to lateral pterygoid
 Receptors in TMJ
 Corpuscular endings
 Mechanoreception
 Signal joint position & movement to trigeminal nuclei
 Synapse with trigeminal motor neurons
 Non-corpuscular unmyelinated free nerve
endings
 In lateral TM ligament
 C fibers - nociceptive
 Fine myelinated plexus throughout the capsule
 Aδ fibers - nociceptive
 Corpuscular endings
 Ruffini or Meissner
 Pacinian corpuscles
 Golgi-type endings
 Ruffini or Meissner
 Globular/ovoid
 Scattered in the capsule
 mechanoreceptors
 Low threshold
 Slowly adapting
 Aβ
 Pacinian corpuscles
 Thickly laminated
 In deeper layer of the capsule & near
blood vessels
 mechanoreceptors
 Low threshold
 Rapidly adapting
 Aβ
 Golgi type
 Fusiform
 In joint ligaments & tendons
 mechanoreceptors
 High threshold
 Very slowly adapting
 Aα