The histological study of autologous blood injection into rat's temporomandibular joint as a conservative treatment option

Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) is an important and complicated joint in the body with a critical role in chewing and speech. Some 50% to 60% of people are said to have a kind of disorder in their TMJs. Among those, 5%-10% suffer from acute or chronic dislocation of TMJ.The definitive treatment for this problem is surgery which of course has probable side effects such as ankylosis and facial nerve injury. Also, Routine conservative treatment just subside symptoms for a period of time. In this study, we evaluated if autologous blood injection in TMJ can be an acceptable conservative treatment for TMJ dislocation. This was a case-control experimental study including 10 rats. The right side TMJs formed the case and the left ones were considered as the control group samples. They were divided into 5 groups so that each group consisted of 2 rats. The groups were sacrificed on days 1, 3, 7,14 and 28. Both of TMJs on every individual were prepared for histological study. Fibrosis was assessed via digital imaging. The collected data were then statistically analyzed by SPSS statistical software using Wilcoxon test.(α = 0.05) The amount of fibrosis in the case group was statistically higher than in the control group (45.95% versus 34.44%) Blood injection into TMJ seems to be a simple and cost-effective therapeutic choice for patients with recurrent TMJ dislocation.