Osteomyelitis affecting mandible in tuberculosis patients

Tuberculosis (TB) is a frequent health problem in developing nations. It has two forms pulmonary and secondary causing other kinds of TB, collectively denoted extra pulmonary tuberculosis. The prevalence of extra pulmonary TB has increased in the last couple of years. Maxillofacial manifestations of tuberculosis form nearly 10% of all extra pulmonary manifestations of the disease. Extra pulmonary TB involving maxillofacial region is our prime concern. Very few cases of TB of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and mandible have been reported in literature. The clinical appearance of TB infection of the TMJ has been described as unspecific, resembling arthritis, osteomyelitis, cancer or any kind of chronic joint diseases. This article describes two cases where the bone, namely TMJ and angle of mandible are affected by tuberculosis. In addition to conventional radiographs we used Cone Beam Computed tomography (CBCT) to explore the third dimension of the lesion. Key words:Tuberculosis, bone, osteomyelitis, CBCT.