Temporomandibular Joint Health and Disease

Bone changes may precede cartilage changes? The TMJ differs from other joints because a layer of fibrocartilage, and not hyaline cartilage, covers it. The bone of the mandibular condyles is located just beneath the fibrocartilage, making it particularly vulnerable to inflammatory damage and a valuable model for studying arthritic bony changes. The capacity of cartilage to repair and modify the surrounding extracellular matrix is limited in comparison to bone. The bone in the TMJ condyle is the site of numerous dynamic morphological transformations, which are an integral part of the initiation/progression of OA, not merely secondary manifestations to cartilage degradation. Strong rationale exists for therapeutic approaches that target bone resorption and formation.