Arthroscopic laser surgery and suturing for temporomandibular joint disorders: technique and clinical results.

Abstract

A new surgical technique has been developed to combine arthroscopic laser surgery with suturing to be used clinically in the treatment of temporomandibular joint disorders. This new technique involves the use of a recently invented double-channel cannula needle scope to visualize the lesion. Subsequently, we combined Nd-YAG laser with suturing in the cavity in order to treat the area around the intraarticular wall. The primary use of arthroscopic laser surgery is for treatment of lesions in the inner wall of the joint cavity. In this article, we give an outline of both the arthroscopic laser surgery and the arthroscopic suturing as well as the clinical, postoperative results of these cases.