Objectives: To evaluate the ability of different diagnostic imaging techniques for diagnosing the presence of erosions and osteophytes in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ).

Methods: A systematic search of PubMed, Medline, all Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) reviews, Embase, Web of Sciences and Lilacs identified nine articles that met the selection criteria: some type of TMJ diagnostic imaging, data from autopsy or dry skull TMJs as gold standard, absence of diagnosed systemic arthritis and evaluation of the presence of erosions and/or osteophytes. A hand search of the references of the selected articles was also performed.

Results: Selected studies evaluated panoramic imaging (unenhanced and colour-enhanced digital subtraction panoramic imaging), axially corrected sagittal tomography, axially corrected frontal tomography, sagittal MRI, CT, high-resolution ultrasound and cone beam CT (CBCT).

Conclusions: Axially corrected sagittal tomography is currently the imaging modality of choice for diagnosing erosions and osteophytes in the TMJ. CT does not seem to add any significant information to what is obtained from axially corrected sagittal tomography. CBCT might prove to be a cost- and radiation dose-effective alternative to axially corrected sagittal tomography. Combining different radiographic techniques is likely to be more accurate in diagnosing erosions and osteophytes in the TMJ than using a single imaging modality. Diagnostic studies that simultaneously evaluate all of the available TMJ imaging technologies are needed.