Temporoparietal fascia flap was useful for the open surgery of temporomandibular joint mobilization

We report a clinical technical note of a patient for whom open surgery of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) mobilization was performed for treating bilateral TMJ ankylosis where the temporoparietal fascia flap (TPFF) was found to be useful. We infer that using such biological tissues prevents postoperative readhesion of the TMJ. The TPFF is often used in craniofacial reconstructive surgery and has been found to be useful in covering wounds and filling dead spaces. Our patient was a female in her 70s, and she was earlier diagnosed with bilateral osteoarthritis of the TMJ and underwent bilateral TMJ release surgery at different hospital. However, she had not received enough mouth opening training exercises after surgery. She was referred to our hospital, where we established a diagnosis of bony ankylosis in bilateral TMJ. After performing open surgery of TMJ mobilization, we completed the surgery by performing reconstruction with filling of the TPFF. She then had a favorable course after 19 days of surgery and was discharged from the hospital. This technical note recommends the need for continuous postoperative mouth opening exercises and periodic follow-up by computed tomography to prevent readhesion of the incision by bone hyperplasia in patients with TMJ ankylosis.