Glenomandibular Muscle Band in the Human TMJ: A Muscular Antagonist to Bennett Movement?

Abstract:

The medial aspects of ten adult TMJs were dissected using an inferior, rather than the more traditional lateral approach. Additionally, five 25 mm3 cubes of cadaver tissue with the mandibular condyle at their center were serially cryosected and photographed. Axial MRI scans were also taken of the TMJs of two living subjects. A band of fibromuscular tissue was found to run horizontally from the medial pole of the mandibular condyle to insert in an area of the sphenoid in front of the squamotympanic fissure. It is postulated that this glenomandibular band acts as a muscular antagonist to lateral Bennett movement.