Association Between Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD) Symptoms and Stress

Methods: A total of 113 patients referred for TMD consultation at Special clinic, Faculty of Dentistry, Mahidol University with primary diagnosis of TMD (disc displacement, myalgia/TMJ arthralgia) according to Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) were asked to complete the questionnaires regarding their TMD symptoms (e.g. jaw pain, TMJ noises, headaches) occurred 3 months prior to the office visit. They were also asked to report whether they were stress during this period. Univariate logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratio (OR) for the associations between those symptoms/dysfunction and the self-reported stress. The OR was adjusted for age and sex. A p-value of less than .05 was considered to be statistical significance.

Results: For 113 TMD patients, 76.1% (n=86) were female. Their mean age was 36.39 ± 14.65 years. Stress was reported in 39.8% (n=45). Regression analysis revealed the statistically significant adjusted OR for self-reported stress as 9.02, 4.94, 4.81, 4.00, 3.24. 2.84 2.37 and 2.37 for headache, temporal pain, hurt when chewing, neck pain, hurt at rest, uncomfortable bite, hurt when opening, and pain in the jaw respectively.

Conclusion: Self-reported stress is associated with most of painful TMD symptoms which may imply the causal relationship between stress and these painful symptoms .