Condylar Growth: Development,Histology and Clinical relevance in contemporary orthodontics.

As part of the temporomandibular joint structure, the mandibular condyle is considered to play a key role in the stability of long-term treatment results after orthodontic and orthognathic treatments. Mandibular condyle plays pivotal role in the development of oro-facial complex, since it provides endochondral bone growth to function as a regional adaptive growth site and is known to adapt to different functional factors. Therefore, it has received special attention in orthodontics. On the contrary, impaired growth of the condyle contributes to the development of mandibular asymmetries and retrognathia, which are corrected in the orthodontic therapy in juveniles to improve functional relationship of the jaws. While cartilage of the mandibular condyle is often referred to as secondary, its main type is called primary cartilage, considered as a remnant of the cartilaginous skeleton, bulk of which forms bony skeleton.This book aims to provide a broad perspective regarding the development, regulating factors, growth relativity hypothesis for condylar growth and current condylar growth concepts as well as clinical relevance in contemporary orthodontics.