The impact of orofacial pain on the quality of life of patients with temporomandibular disorder
From: J Orofac Pain. 2009 Winter;23(1):28-37
To evaluate the relationships between gender, diagnosis, and severity of temporomandibular joint disorders with self-reports of the impact of temporomandibular joint disorders on the quality of life, eighty-three individuals seeking temporomandibular joint disorders treatment at the Dental School of Pontifical Catholic University Minas from May to August 2005 were evaluated by a single examiner who was trained and calibrated for diagnosis according to criteria of Axis I of the Research Diagnostic Criteria for temporomandibular joint disorders. The severity of temporomandibular joint disorders was established by the Temporomandibular Index and the impact on quality of life by the Oral Health Impact Profile. Complete data were available for 78 of the 83 initial patients and evaluated by the Mann-Whitney test and Spearman correlation analysis.
Except for one patient, all individuals showed some impact related to physical pain. Of the seven aspects evaluated on the Oral Health Impact Profile, women presented a greater impact than men only for functional limitations. Patients presenting with diagnoses of muscular disorders (group I) or osteoarthritis (group III) reported a greater impact than those without. The Spearman test demonstrated a significant correlation between impact on quality of life and severity of temporomandibular joint disorders. Orofacial pain had a great impact on the quality of life of individuals with temporomandibular joint disorders, without group difference between genders. The presence of muscular disorders (group I) and osteoarthritis (group III) was related to greater impact on quality of life, which was not observed for diagnoses of disc displacement (group II). A correlation between severity of temporomandibular joint disorders and impact on quality of life was clearly observed.
