Experience of TMJ Pain in Relation to Time

Objectives: Experience of pain may be determined by sensory and evaluative word tools. The short-form of McGill questionnaire is such a self reported tool composed of 15 pain words measuring pain in a multidimensional form. The purpose of this study was to identify pain characteristics in relation to time. This finding would serve in differentiating the acute from chronic TMJ pain according to the signs and symptoms. Methods: Twenty-four patients with signs and symptoms of TMJ dysfunction with or without pain of the associated muscular system participated in this study by filling in the sfMcGill pain questionnaire. The patients divided into two groups. In the first group, patients were classified as having acute TMJ pain when reported TMJ pain of less than three months. In the second group patients reported TMJ pain history of more than three months, classified as chronic group (n=17). The null hypothesis that the proportion of patients in the acute and chronic groups characterized the pain as sharp and tender is 0,5 respectively. Results: The acute pain is more likely to be defined as sharp, where the chronic as tender in statistically significant levels (p<0.05). Furthermore, the previous results are not verification for the transition period between acute and chronic stage using the three months period of existence, as a time link. Conclusion: A future study is suggested by categorizing the sample according to time points. This may be found useful for the study of the transition period or end-start point. Evaluation of pain characters using the above questionnaire might lead to indications for new assessment protocol regarding the status of the disorder considering that the clinical entity of facial arthromyalgia or chronic TMJD is a condition of undetermined etiology.