Temporomandibular disorder symptoms and their association with quality of life, emotional states and sleep quality in South‐East Asian youths

Abstract

Population studies on the prevalence of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and their associations with quality of life (QoL), emotional states and sleep quality in South-East Asian youths are not available. This cross-sectional study assessed the presence of TMD and their relationships to QoL, depression, anxiety, stress and sleep quality in a cohort of South-East Asian adolescents/young adults. Three hundred and sixty-two students from a polytechnic were enrolled in the study and completed an online questionnaire consisting of the Fonesca's Anamnestic Index (FAI), Oral Health Impact Profile for TMD (OHIP-TMD), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The FAI appraises TMD severity while OHIP-TMD determines the effect of TMD on oral health-related QoL. Statistical analysis was performed using chi-square test for categorical data whilst one-way ANOVA/post hoc Bonferroni's tests were employed for numerical scores (P < 0.05). Of the 244 participants who completed the questionnaires in their entirety (37 males; 207 females, mean age 20.1 ± 3.2 years), 32.4% had mild TMD, 9.4% had moderate TMD and 58.2% were TMD free. The total prevalence of TMD was 41.8% (n = 102) and most OHIP-TMD domains including functional limitation (P = 0.000), physical pain (P = 0.000), handicapped (P = 0.000) and psychological discomfort (P = 0.001) showed significant differences in mean scores depending on TMD severity. A similar trend was observed for DASS-21. The majority of participants with TMD (69.6%; n = 71) had poor sleep quality (P = 0.004). TMD appear to be prevalent in South-East Asian youths with varying severity. Severity of TMD had some bearing on QoL, emotional states as well as sleep quality.

Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of the Fonseca anamnestic index for temporomandibular disorders

“…15,17,18 The FAI has been utilised by clinicians and researchers for clinical screening and prevalence studies that have public health policy practice and policy implications. [18][19][20][21][22][23] The FAI was originally developed in Portuguese and translated into English. [18][19][20][21][22][23] Although the English FAI is widely used, it has limited utility in countries and cohorts based on the Chinese language due to literacy and cultural issues.…”

“…[18][19][20][21][22][23] The FAI was originally developed in Portuguese and translated into English. [18][19][20][21][22][23] Although the English FAI is widely used, it has limited utility in countries and cohorts based on the Chinese language due to literacy and cultural issues. For the FAI to be employed in China and other Chinese literate populations, it needs to be translated into the Chinese language and the translated instrument must be assessed for reliability and validity.…”

“…14 It was developed based on the Helkimo index and has been mooted as a simple, low-cost, patient-reported TMDs assessment tool. [18][19][20][21][22][23] The FAI was originally developed in Portuguese and translated into English. 16 It has high accuracy, sensitivity and specificity for identifying myogenous TMDs in community samples and allows severity of TMDs to be graded.…”

“…15 The FAI was found to be consistent with other instruments used to screen and diagnose TMDs including the American Association of Orofacial Pain Questionnaire and the Jaw Symptom and Oral Habit Questionnaire. [18][19][20][21][22][23] Although the English FAI is widely used, it has limited utility in countries and cohorts based on the Chinese language due to literacy and cultural issues. 15,17,18 The FAI has been utilised by clinicians and researchers for clinical screening and prevalence studies that have public health policy practice and policy implications.…”

Association between oxidative stress and temporomandibular joint dysfunction: A narrative review

“…Because pain‐related TMD affects an individual's activities of daily living, psychosocial functioning and quality of life, it is important to understand the pathophysiology and the mechanisms involved in pain‐evoking situations, as well as pain intensity, in order to determine factors predictive of disease severity and thus improve therapeutic strategies for these patients. Therefore, the objective of the present review was to evaluate the association between oxidative stress markers and the etiopathogenesis of TMJ dysfunction by means of synovial fluid analysis.…”