Quality-of-life survey comparing patients before and after discectomy of the temporomandibular joint.

Objective: 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.

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: Post-TMJ surgery patients showed statistically significant decreases in pain levels (P < .05), diet and chewing (P < .01), mood (P < .01), anxiety (P < .01), and general health (P < .05) compared with the presurgical patients. However, there were no statistically significant differences between the pre- and post-TMJ surgery groups in terms of speech, level of activity, recreation, and general well-being.

Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that TMJ discectomy with dermis-fat grafting appears to have a positive QoL effect in terms of reducing pain levels and improving diet and chewing, mood, anxiety, and general health in patients with Wilkes stage IV TMJ internal derangement.