Association between Symptoms of Temporomandibular Disorders and Gender, Morphological Occlusion, and Psychological Factor in Dental Student's

Introduction: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD), is a collective term that embraces a number of clinical problems that involve the masticatory muscles, the temporomandibular joint, and the associated structures. The etiology of TMD in children and adolescents is considered multifactorial in nature and has been related to trauma, malocclusion, and oral parafunctional habits such as bruxism, nail biting, and non-nutritional sucking. Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of TMD in a sample of Dental students and its relationship to gender, occlusion, and psychological factors. Materials and Methods: A total number of 150 subjects, aged 18-25 years were included in the study. The TMD degree was evaluated using an anamnestic questionnaire. Morphologic occlusion was evaluated according to angle classification. The level of anxiety was self-rated by using Zung self-rating scale. Results: The results of this study imply that 23% of the subjects had mild to moderate degree TMD. Significant association could not be found between TMD and gender or occlusion. TMD was found to have statistically significant association with anxiety. Conclusion: A high-prevalence of mild TMD was found in this student population. Various studies show that the anxiety had a statistically significant association with TMD. The present study suggests the importance of psychological screening of young adults as an adjunct to confirm the diagnosis of TMD so as to early treatment.