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Why do synchondroses normally disappear by about age 25?
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joint
The ligaments and cartilage in a knee joint.
Synchondroses are cartilaginous joints that serve as temporary structures allowing for the growth of bones. These joints consist of unossified masses of cartilage that facilitate longitudinal bone growth by acting as sites where cartilage is progressively replaced by bone.123
The reason these joints normally vanish by approximately age 25 is that they are transient structures tied to the skeletal development process. As an individual reaches full skeletal maturity, the cartilage within these plates undergoes a final process of degeneration, calcification, and replacement by bone. Once this ossification is complete and the growth plates fuse, the synchondrosis disappears, and no further longitudinal growth of the bone is possible.123