Objectives: The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is a complex, highly specialized joint. Along with the teeth, these joints are considered to be a “tri-joint complex.” Mandibular condyle morphology is characterized by a rounded bone projection with an upper biconvex and oval surface in axial plane. Anatomical knowledge of the TMJ is one of the basic foundations of clinical practice, allowing the understanding of TMJ pathologies and fabrication of condylar prostheses. The cross-sectional descriptive study was undertaken to evaluate normal variation in the condylar morphology on radiographs in persons without TMJ symptomatology and its relation to age, gender, dentition status, chewing habits, parafunctional habits, history of orthodontic treatment, and denture wearing was assessed. Material and Methods: A total of 350 subjects without TMJ symptomatology included in the study were further grouped by age, gender, dentition status, chewing habits, parafunctional habits, history of orthodontic treatment, and denture wearing history. Panoramic radiograph was taken for the assessment of condylar morphology. Results: A significant association between dentition status and bilaterally similar condylar morphology was noticed. Bilaterally similar condyles were seen in 81.4% of subjects. Round-shaped condyles were seen in 176 (62%) persons. Loss of bilateral occlusion tends to alter the condylar morphology. Association between normal chewing habits and bilaterally similar condyle shapes was significant. Conclusion: The study describes the normal morphology of mandibular condyles in a population attending the tertiary dental care center, Kozhikode. The dentition status and chewing habits of individuals had a significant role in determining condylar morphology.

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Introduction: The world has faced the pandemic of COVID-19 in the march of 2020 and still it continues to effect in 2021. Hence, in the present study we aim to evaluate the gulps in the research so that certain recommendations can be made for the future research. We conducted a scoping review of the COVID meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: Online data was collected from the search engines of EBSCO, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus. The searched terms were COVID-19, CORONA, SARS-CoV-2, clinical features, Wuhan, etc. The study articles were collected that from January 2020 to February 2021. Based on the PRISMA guidelines, the meta-analysis was performed. Results: In the present study, we finalized 316 articles. On February 2020, the first article was published. We observed a spike in the meta-analysis later on. Most of the meta-analysis were issued in the virology and infection magazines. As expected, the majority studies were from Wuhan. The other countries that published the meta-analysis were the USA, the UK, and Italy. The studies included in each meta-analysis were nearly 25 and the subjects were approximately 16 thousand. However, we noticed a poor quality in majority of these meta-analysis and <10% of all the meta-analysis showed higher confidence. Conclusion: A poor quality of the meta-analysis has predominated the data and very few are of high quality. All the journal editors and the reviewing team should verify and thoroughly organize the protocol so that only high quality meta-analysis are encouraged.

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