Severity and form of temporomandibular disorder symptoms: Functional, physical, and psychosocial impacts

ABSTRACT

Objective

The associations between the presence of differing severity/form of temporomandibular disorder (TMD) symptoms and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) were explored.

Methods

The severity and form of TMDs in young adults were categorized based on the Fonseca Anamnestic Index (FAI) and Diagnostic Criteria for TMDs (DC/TMD), and OHRQoL was assessed with the Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14). Data were analyzed using non-parametric statistics (α = 0.05).

Results

The study cohort consisted of 501 young adults (mean age 19.7 ± 1.3 years; 75.2% women). Participants with severe/moderate TMDs had significantly higher OHIP severity scores than those with mild/no TMDs. Moreover, participants with combined/pain-related symptoms exhibited significantly higher severity scores compared to those without symptoms. The physical pain and psychological discomfort domains were typically more impaired regardless of severity/form of TMD symptoms.

Conclusion

More severe and painful symptoms were related to greater impairments in OHRQoL, especially in the physical and psychological domains.

KEYWORDS:

• Temporomandibular disorders
• symptoms
• oral health-related quality of life

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Faculty of Dentistry, Trisakti University for supporting and Ni Luh Widya, Ariel Jason, Nadhira Shabila, and Novey Riyanti for their assistance in data collection.

Data availability statement

Data for this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for this study.