Prevalence and Sex Distribution of Temporomandibular Disorder and Their Association with Anxiety and Depression in Indian Medical University Students

Abstract

Objectives: The term TMD refers to a group of disorders characterized by pain in the temporomandibular joint and associated structures. The aim of this study was designed to evaluate prevalence, severity and sex distribution of sign and symptoms of TMD and to evaluate their relation with anxiety and depression among the students. Material and Methods: A total of 1000 university students were enrolled in the study (550 females; 450 males), with ages ranged between 18 and 28 years. Helkimo anamnestic index (Ai) and clinical dysfunction index (Di) were used to determine symptoms and signs respectively. For the association of TMD with anxiety and depression, HAD (Hospital Anxiety and Depression) scale was used. Results showed that prevalence of one or more symptoms of TMD was 27.7%, while the prevalence of one or more signs of TMD was 64.4% which was mild in severity. Mild anamnestic symptoms (AiI) were found in 19.8% and severe symptoms (AiII) were found in 7.6%, while mild clinical sign (DiI), moderate clinical (DiII) and severe clinical sign (DiIII) were found in 49.7%, 12.2% and 2.4% respectively. Statistically there was no gender difference in these two scales. Regarding the association between TMD with anxiety and depression, 206 of the 311 students (66.2%) with TMD symptoms also had signs of anxiety and depression (P < 0.001). Conclusion: These findings confirmed that students had high prevalence of TMD which was significantly associated with anxiety and depression.

Prevalence of Temporomandibular Joint Disorders among Yemeni University students: A prospective, cross-sectional study

“…This is accordance with many studies [14,36,[41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]. The best explanation for that pain-free days than women suffering hormonal fl uctuations related to their naturally occurring menstrual cycles; nevertheless, the differences were not statistically signifi cant and a predominant temporal pattern could not be discerned in this small sample [49].…”

“…This agrees of majority of previous studies [10,24,[35][36][37][38][39], and in disagreement with others reports [14,26,33,40].…”

“…Based on anamnestic Helkimo index, a majority of studied sample were suffered of sever TMDs (27.1, n = 56), this is a higher and inconsistent with previous studies [14,41].…”

“…Whilst, a low rate of TMD (25.4%) among students was estimated in Arab students at Gulf Medical University Ajman, UAE [23]. Additionally, the prevalence of TMD in Indian university students was (45.16%) and showed women slightly higher than men (36.58% and 31.48% respectively) [2,14]. A higher prevalence of TMD among the university students in Brazil was 57.7% and showed the women higher prevalence than men (68.7% and 48.2%) [24].…”

“…There are evidences to suggest that anxiety, stress, and other emotional disturbances may exacerbate TMDs, especially in patients who clinically experience chronic pain [3,14].…”