Developments of the new instruments for TMJ arthroscopic surgery.

A large and clearly visible operating area is essential for successful arthroscopic surgery of the temporomandibular joint. The keys to a successful operation are the safe and accurate positioning of a large scope and multiple cannulations, overcoming blind areas. We developed some instruments to resolve these problems; i.e., scopes with a large diameter for high resolution, a triangulation instrument for multiple cannulations, a needle set-up jig for disk traction suture, a step cannulation system and a two-channel cannula for operating in the narrow lower joint space and a fixing jig for cannulas in the upper and lower joint space to observe the same portion of the discal tissue from both joint space during disk suturing. From our experience in applying systematic procedures using these instruments in 37 arthroscopic surgeries, it is possible for this procedure to be done under a visual field and the surgical time considerably shortened.