Symptoms of functional disturbances of the masticatory system: A comparison of frequencies in a population sample and in a group of patients

Abstract

With the aid of questionnaires symptoms of mandibular dysfunction and some general and oral conditions were studied in a group of previous patients and in a randomly selected population sample. From the two materials answers were obtained from 82 persons (81%) and 1.106 (91%) respectively. The results confirmed that women are heavily overrepresented in patient materials. This differs from the fairly equal sex distribution found in population studies of mandibular dysfunction. The most frequent symptoms of mandibular dysfunction were TMJ-sounds which appeared in 39 and 79% and pain on opening the mouth which appeared in 12 and 42% of the population and patient samples respectively. All symptoms of mandibular dysfunction, headache, clenching of the teeth and unilateral chewing appeared significantly more often in the previous patients, but the number of natural teeth did not differ in the two samples. The general state of health was poorer and general joint -- muscle symptoms were more common in the previous patients as well as in those of the population sample with symptoms of mandibular dysfunction. This finding suggests that functional disturbances of the masticatory system often may be related to impaired general health.

Self‐reported chewing side preference and its associations with occlusal, temporomandibular and prosthodontic factors: results from the population‐based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP‐0)

“…Several non‐epidemiological investigations have been made concerning masticatory laterality. The results of these studies are hardly comparable with the present study as well as among each other because different methods [questionnaires (3, 4, 7–9, 23) visual spot checking (1, 13, 16, 24–26), observation while chewing (11, 15, 27–29), EMG recordings(30), electrognathography (14, 31–34), cinefluorography (35–38)] and different study populations (patients/non‐patients; selected age groups; selected dentitions) were used. A study which compared two methods, kinesiography and visual spot checking, found no statistical agreement between the two techniques (39), which demonstrates the difficulty of comparing results.…”

A two-year follow-up study of temporomandibular disorders in a female Sami population: validation of cases and controls as predicted by questionnaire

“…The link may thus relate to female hormones, physical activity levels, or both, and warrants more research. The present study supplements and confirms the results of previous studies [31,32] demonstrating that subjects with TMD consider their general health status as more impaired than that of controls. The almost 30-times-higher likelihood of reporting impaired health was interesting, since the proportion of those under medical care due to disease did not differ significantly between cases and controls.…”

Intraoral Myofascial Therapy for Chronic Myogenous Temporomandibular Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…[34][35][36][37][38] Where these activities have been identified as factors in TMD, they have usually been identified as part of a wider (particularly psychoemotional) health concern. 39,40 Several studies have suggested that TMD may not be self-resolving. 41,42 Factors such as the influence of the temporomandibular apparatus on other regions of the body 43 ; frequency of TMD signs and symptoms in the general population approaching 40% to 50% [44][45][46][47] ; the common finding of TMD among the young 44,48 ; its reported association with other conditions such as headache and fibromyalgia [49][50][51] ; and its effects on quality of life 52 not only highlight the need for continued research but, more importantly, suggest that those with this disorder should be empowered with as many self-care strategies as possible to ensure successful long-term management.…”