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The author attempted to observed the histological changes of the temporomandibular joints of rabbits by including malocclusion. Thirty-two healthy male rabbits were divided into two groups; control and experimental group. Eight rabbits were kept as control group, while metal crowns were seated on unilateral lower molar teeth of twenty-four rabbits as experimental group. And the interocclusal distance of the incisal edge was kept 1.5㎜ from the beginning to the end of the experimental periods. Rabbits of each group, one of control group and three of the experimental group, were killed at the intervals of one day, three days, one week, two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, and twelve weeks after experiment. The temporomandibular joint including condyle head, articular disc and glenoid fossa were excised and decalcified. The decalcified sections were made histologic sections. The results obtained were as follows. 1. The regressive changes of the condylar head were the main reaction in this experiment that consist of decreasing or increasing thickness of the fibrocartilage zone with hyaline degeneration, decreasing of the cellularity of the proliferative zone, and the irregularity of the arrangement of chondrocytes and size of the lacunae of cartilage cells with chondroclasia and osteoclasia in hypertrophic zone. 2. The regressive changes of the condylar surface of the crown seated side were persisted to the end of the experiment. 3. On the non-crown seated side, severe aggressive changes occurred in initial stage, but hyperplastic changes of the condylar surface noted in the middle of the experimental periods. 4. Although aggressive changes occurred in initial stage of experiment on the non-crown seated side, hyperplastic changes of the condylar surface were noted in the middle of the experimental periods, and remodeling appeared at the termination of the experimental periods. 5. The articular disc exhibited pannus formation on both crown seated and non-crown seated side from the beginning of the experiment. The pannus persisted throughout the experiment on the crown seated side, but on the non-crown seated side it disappeared from six week group.
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