Temporomandibular chronic dislocation : the long-standing condition

Background The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dislocation can be categorised into three groups: acute, habitual or recurrent and long-standing. The long-standing or protracted lower jaw dislocation refers to a condition that persists for more than one month without reduction. There are a great variety of methods for its treatment, from the manual or non-surgical, to surgical ones like the indirect approach (conservative surgical approach) and direct approach (open joint). Additional procedures in unsuccessful cases may include extra-articular orthognathic techniques to correct a malocclusion until joint replacement. Material and Methods We report four new cases with a minimum of 6 weeks disl…