A Transcranial Radiographic Examination of the Temporal Portion of the Temporomandibular Joint

The ordinary dental office has a standard dental X-ray machine and, perhaps, a panoramic X-ray unit. To image the human temporomandibular joint, the dentist will often refer a patient to a facility with more sophisticated imaging machines. Already in 1933, however, Lindblom recognized that with certain modifications, the conventional dental X-ray machine could accurately image the lateral portion of the temporomandibular joint. Since then, modifications of and additions to the conventional dental X-ray machine have consisted of headboards and headholders to improve the diagnostic value of lateral oblique transcranial radiographs of the temporomandibular joint. It was the purpose of this study to examine how much a recently developed headholder (Denar\u27s Accurad 200) contributed to the accurate imaging of the temporomandibular joint, specifically, the lateral portion of the posterior slope of the articular tubercle (the eminentia)