Anatomy of the Lateral Pterygoid Muscle and its Relationship with Temporomandibular Disorders. An anatomic review
Authors: Orellana Mathias Ignacio , Valenzuela Juan José , Santana Edmundo Andrés , Gold Marjorie Hanna , de la Paz García Guernica 
Published: April 2020

The lateral pterygoid muscle (LPM) is a chewing muscle that is found bilaterally in the cranial region, anatomically the LPM is made up of two bellies, an upper belly and a lower belly. The anatomical description of the LPM present in the scientific literature, showed that there is an anatomical difference or variation mainly in the insertions of the upper belly of the LPM at the level of the temporomandibular joint and specifically in the disc and articular condyle, although distributions are reported similarly they are not entirely accurate, in smaller quantities some articles reported variations in the insertion of the lower belly, and in others the appearance of a third belly of the LPM or middle belly. As mentioned above, a high number of studies that presented some type of LPM variation was associated with some type of TMD of the joint or some of its intra or extra‐articular components. A review of the literature in scientific databases was carried out after the selection of the scientific articles, which were analyzed in full text and the relationship on the anatomy of the LPM and the TMD was sought.

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No conflicts of interest declared.

Search Algorithm

Figure 1

Correlation between the anatomical variation of the LPM and the TMD

Bibliographic reference

Anatomic Variation of the LPM

TMJ Dissorder

Antonopoulou M, et al. (2013)

3 insertions in the joint disc.

Dysfunction in the anterior displacement of the articular disc.

Coskun A, et al. (2009)

3 heads of the lateral pterygoid muscle.

Temporomandibular dysfunction

Dergin G, et al (2012)

Provision in patterns of variation in the insertion of the MPL, either in the articular disc and in the condyle.

No correlation was presented.

Desmons S, et al (2007)

Provision in patterns of variation in the insertion of the LPM, either in the articular disc and in the condyle.

Temporomandibular dysfunction

Imanimoghaddam M, et al. (2013)

Provision in patterns of variation in the insertion of the LPM, either in the articular disc and in the condyle

Temporomandibular dysfunction

Kawakami S, et al (2012)

Variation in the insertion of the lower head of the LPM.

Temporomandibular dissorder.

Litko M, et al (2016)

Variation in the insertion of the lower and upper head of the LPM, plus third head of the LPM.

Indirect correlation between insertion and joint disc abnormalities.

Matsunaga, et al (2009)

Variation in the insertion of the lower head of the LPM.

No correlation was presented.

Mazza D, et al (2009)

Variation in the insertion of the upper and lower head of the LPM.

Temporomandibular dysfunction, dislocation of the joint disc.

Omami G, et al (2012)

Variation in the insertion of the upper head of the LPM.

Symptomatic TMJ only with the presence of pain evaluated with VAS.

Melke G, et al (2016)

Variation in the insertion of the upper head of the LPM.

Temporomandibular dysfunction.