OBJECTIVE To evaluate radiological characteristics of the temporomandibular joint. METHODS Retrospective study of images of 20-80 year-old patients. Two independent clinicians analyzed the images, and a radiological score was obtained, considering sclerosis, osteophites, cysts, and erosion. RESULTS Seventy eight percent of the joints belonged to females. The main complaints were pain and headache (54.5%) and reduced motion (21.2%). The most common diagnoses were disc dislocation with reduction (35.9%), myofascial pain (20.7%), and osteoarthritis (15.2%). The majority of the joints (96.5%) showed degeneration, with an average radiological score of 3.86 ± 1.47 (0-8). Non-parametric tests showed that females had significantly higher radiological scores (p = 0.014), and TMD-joint patients had higher scores than TMD-muscle patients (p = 0.013). No statistically significant association between radiological scores and chief complaint. CONCLUSIONS There were differences among the radiological findings between genders and joint/ muscle TMD, as well as across diagnoses, as expected.