Prevalence of retrocranial condylar displacement in different skeletal classes - A cephalometric-condylographic study

Objective: In the present study, a correlation between skele-tal class (SC) and retrocranial condylar displacement in clini-cally mimicked bruxism function in condylography wasexamined. First of all, it was assessed whether subjects withSC II, due to their anatomy, had a greater predisposition forcondylar displacement above a given pathologic thresholdthan subjects with SC I or SC III. Other parameters such as ageand gender in connection with SC were also evaluated.Materials and methods: Condylographies (on an individualhinge axis) of 385 retrospectively selected subjects were eval-uated in correlation with cephalometric measurements, anda cluster analysis was performed.Results: A connection could not be established betweenpathologic displacement of the condyle under clinically sim-ulated bruxism function and SC. Half of the subjects exam-ined showed a potentially pathologic displacement of thecondyle under bruxism function.Conclusion: The results of the cluster analysis and the lack ofcorrelation between condylar displacement above a giventhreshold and SC indicate a complex etiology, with a rathermultifactorial genesis of the functional disorders of thetemporomandibular joint.