Nine adult patients with protracted bilateral TMJ ankylosis are the material of this work. All of them suffered from snoring during sleep and excessive daytime somnolence. Their cephalo-metric radiographs before and after staged surgical advancement and release of ankylosis were studied. The author found increases in the antero-posterior dimensions of the upper airway spaces after the first stage of advancement. Such increases were followed by decreases after the second stage of release of ankylosis. The final outcome, 1 to 2 years after surgery, was a significant increase of the upper airway space. This increase noticed both by the patient's relatives who had no more complains of the troublesome snoring and objectively by the lateral cephalometric changes.

Saudi Dental Journal 1993;5(3):121-126.