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Temporomandibular joint disc

Last revised by Craig Hacking ◉ on 10 Apr 2024

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Gaillard F, Hacking C, Ma J, et al. Temporomandibular joint disc. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 21 Mar 2025) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-5452

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-5452

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/5452?embed_domain=hackmd.io%252F%2540yipuafecsl2jsu8smr5njq%252Fbnjhjgjghjghjghfavicon.ico

rID:

5452

Article created:

25 Jan 2009, Frank Gaillard ◉ ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Frank Gaillard had no recorded disclosures.

View Frank Gaillard's current disclosures

Last revised:

10 Apr 2024, Craig Hacking ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Craig Hacking had the following disclosures:

Philips Australia, Paid speaker at Philips Spectral CT events (ongoing)

These were assessed during peer review and were determined to not be relevant to the changes that were made.

View Craig Hacking's current disclosures

Revisions:

15 times, by 12 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Head & Neck, Musculoskeletal

Synonyms:

TMJ disc

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disc (or meniscus) is made of fibrocartilage and divides the temporomandibular joint into two compartments.

Gross anatomy

The disc is composed of fibrocartilage, with crimped collagen, thought to better absorb impact. It has a biconcave shape with a thicker periphery and attached at its periphery (except posteriorly) to the TMJ capsule (see below). There are anterior and posterior transverse thickenings of the disc, known as the anterior and posterior bands. Between the two is the intermediate zone.

The TMJ disc divides the joint into two compartments which separates translational and rotational motion:

superior discotemporal space: located above the disc, between it and the mandibular fossa and articular eminence of the temporal bone. Anterior translation during mouth opening occurs here.
inferior discomandibular space: located below the disc, between it and the mandibular condyle. Rotation occurs here (in absence of TMJ dysfunction).

Attachments

anterior: capsule which blends with the insertion of the superior belly lateral pterygoid muscle, and attaches to the articular eminence of the temporal bone superiorly and neck of condyle inferiorly
medial: capsule
lateral: capsule
posterior: blends with the retrodiscal layer

Radiographic features

MRI

The anterior band and intermediate zone are low signal on T2/PD sequences, whereas the posterior band and retrodiscal zone are intermediate to hyperintense. The intermediate zone may have a higher T2 signal cleft within it as a normal variant.

The anterior band is well seen on both open and closed mouth oblique sagittal views (see: TMJ MRI protocol), whereas the posterior band and retrodiscal zone are best seen in closed mouth views.

A normal disc is biconcave. In pathology this morphology alters, and the disc may appear

thickened and globular / lentiform
irregular
thinned
perforated

References

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Temporomandibular joint disc