Panoramic Assessment of the Effect of Dental Status on the Articular Eminence Inclination

Background: Tooth loss may alter temporomandibular joint loading and morphology. Its relationship with articular eminence inclination remains unclear.. This study aimed to assess the effect of dental status (presence/absence of an occlusal support zone) on the articular eminence inclination (AEI) using panoramic radiographs. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on the panoramic radiographs of 90 patients, including 30 completely edentulous, 30 dentate, and 30 partially edentulous patients with unilateral loss of posterior support. The AEI was calculated as the angle formed between the line connecting the deepest point of the glenoid fossa to the most prominent point of the articular eminence and the Frankfurt plane. The data were analyzed by ANOVA and the Tukey, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney, and t-tests (alpha=0.05). Results: The right-side AEI in dentate patients (58.1±2.6 degrees) was significantly greater than that in fully edentulous (49±3.64 degrees) and unilaterally edentulous (50.2±6.04 degrees) patients (P<0.001); the difference between the completely edentulous and unilaterally edentulous cases was not significant (P=0.56). Similarly, the left-side AEI in completely edentulous (47.33±3.24 degrees) and unilaterally edentulous (50.2±6.55) patients was not significantly different (P>0.05), but both values were significantly lower than that in dentate (56.77±3.24 degrees) patients (P<0.001). Dental status was an influential factor on AEI (P<0.001), but its interaction effect with gender was not significant (P=0.084). Conclusion: Dental status had a significant effect on the AEI, irrespective of gender. AEI in dentate patients was significantly greater than that in completely and partially edentulous patients, but was not significantly different in the latter two groups.