Assessment of radiographic morphology of mandibular condyles: a radiographic study

Abstract

Background: Panoramic radiographs are the most common radiographic tool used by the dental clinicians to evaluate teeth, mandible and other related structures of the jaws. Mandibular condyle is an important anatomical landmark for facial growth, expressed in an upward and backward direction. The presentation of mandibular condyle differs widely among different group of ages and individuals. Materials and methods:The retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted from Nov 2018 to March 2019 at Dow International Dental College (DIDC) Karachi that includes radiographic evaluation of 500 mandibular condyles. All retrievable OPGs were obtained and data were extracted regarding age, gender and condylar morphology. Results:The morphological appearances of mandibular condyle have great variation among different age groups and subjects. Normally we recognize five basic shapes i.e. Oval, Bird beak, crooked finger, diamond and mixed. Out of 250 pair of condylar heads that were evaluated, 50% were oval, 40% bird beak, 4.8% crooked finger and diamond 4.8%. Conclusions:All four morphological types of mandibular condyles were observed and the oval shape condyles were most prevalent among both genders and all age groups. In future studies, the inclusion of other parameters and large sample size may provide unique information.

Assessment of Condylar Shape through Digital Panoramic Radiograph among Nepalese Population: A Proposal for Classification

“…The least common shape noted in our study was a crooked finger shape (1.2%), almost half more prevalent than the bifid shape (3.16%), which was similarly seen in studies by Singh et al [ 17 ] (1.5%), Anisuzzaman et al [ 16 ] (2%), and Singh and Chakrabarty [ 12 ] (2%) higher in other study by Khanal [ 7 ] (4.15%), Shaikh et al [ 9 ] (4.8%), and Jawahar and Maragathavalli [ 11 ] (14%), whereas most of the other studies did not mention about crooked shaped condyle, and none of the studies mentioned about bifid condyle except one study by Singh et al [ 17 ] (5.33%).…”

“…We found round/oval shape to be the highest prevalence (79%) in our population which was similarly high in studies done by Khanal (63.6%) [ 7 ], Sonal et al [ 2 ] (60%), Anisuzzaman et al [ 16 ] (60%), Maqbool et al [ 13 ] (60.6%), Jawahar and Maragathavalli [ 11 ] (58.5%), Shaikh et al [ 9 ] (50%), Kanjani et al [ 14 ] (46.12), Nagaraj et al [ 15 ] (142.8%), Singh and Chakrabarty [ 12 ] (41%), Singh et al [ 8 ] (35.4%), and Singh et al [ 17 ] (34.5%). The difference in percentage could be because our study included a very wide range of age group, i.e., as young as 11 years to >50 years of patients, which was not taken with any of the studies.…”

“…The second most common shape seen in our study was flattened (8.76%) which was similar to the study by Nagaraj et al [ 15 ] (7.5%), quite higher among the studies by Singh and Chakrabarty [ 12 ] (19%) and Singh et al [ 17 ] (14%), quite lower in few of the studies by Singh et al [ 8 ] (2.85%), Maqbool et al [ 13 ] (2.58%), Kanjani et al [ 14 ] (2.62) but reported it to be the most common after diamond/angle shape, whereas studies done by Sonal et al [ 2 ], Khanal [ 7 ], Shaikh et al [ 9 ], Anisuzzaman et al [ 16 ], and Jawahar and Maragathavalli [ 11 ] did not mention about flattened shapes.…”

“…The second most common shape seen in our study was flattened (8.76%) which was similar to the study by Nagaraj et al [15] (7.5%), quite higher among the studies by Singh and Chakrabarty [12] (19%) and Singh et al [17] (14%), quite lower in few of the studies by Singh et al [8] (2.85%), Maqbool et al [13] (2.58%), Kanjani et al [14] (2.62) but reported it to be the most common after diamond/angle shape, whereas studies done by Sonal et al [2], Khanal [7], Shaikh et al [9], Anisuzzaman et al [16], and Jawahar and Maragathavalli [11] did not mention about flattened shapes. The third most common shape seen in our study was diamond/angled (4.7%), which was similarly seen in other studies by Sonal et al [ 2] (9%), Singh et al [8] (3.2%), Shaikh et al [9] (4.8%), Anisuzzaman et al [16] (9%), and Jawahar and Maragathavalli [11] (9%), whereas it was quite high in the studies by Khanal [7] (22.64%), Singh and Chakrabarty [12] (28%), Kanjani et al [14] (29.29), Maqbool et al [13] (29.31%), and Singh et al [17] (30.33%). This could be attributed to the reason that these studies have included a bird beak shaped as one of the classification which was not included in our study as well as studies [2,8,9,11] similar to our study.…”

“…Several authors have discussed about various types of condyle shape in different parts of the world (geographical variations) [ 2 , 6 – 9 ]. The most common classification system (which was found/used in most of the previous studies and also with overall highest number of citations) followed in the previous studies was of oval, bird beak, diamond, and crooked finger types of condyles [ 2 , 7 , 9 – 11 ]. Two of the studies (second highest overall citation) followed different classification as rounded, angled, flattened, and mixed types of condyles [ 6 , 12 ].…”