Abstract
The aims of this study were to investigate the gender differences in signs and symptoms of Korean Temporomandibular Disorder (TMD) patients based on Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) and psychosocial characteristics. A total of 1052 patients with TMD were evaluated with a questionnaire for medical history, clinical symptoms, and contributing factors, clinical examination based on RDC/TMD, and radiographic examination. RDC/TMD axis II and Symptom Checklist-90-Revision (SCL-90-R) were administered to evaluate pain-related disability level and psychological status of patients. The prevalence of TMD was higher in women than men, and the women were older than the men. The women showed higher prevalence of myogenous pain, mixed pain, disc displacement without reduction, osteoarthritis, headache, subjective insomnia, pain intensity, number of positive muscle palpation, and the high disability group in the grade chronic pain scale. Gender was associated with the number of positive muscle palpation and maximum mouth opening. Pain intensity was not associated with gender, but with number of systemic comorbidities. Subjective symptoms, and clinical and psychological characteristics of patients with TMD showed gender differences. To achieve understanding of patient and increase of success rate of treatment of TMD, gender should be considered in patient evaluations and treatment approaches.
Highlights
Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) are the most common musculoskeletal conditions in the oral and facial areas accompanied by pain and dysfunction in temporomandibular joint (TMJ) or masticatory muscles
Women showed higher prevalence of headache and subjective insomnia than men (p < 0.01), but no significant gender differences were found in tinnitus and bruxism
Our study investigated the gender effect on the clinical signs and symptoms of TMD patients, and analyzed its differences based on Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) and psychosocial characteristics
Summary
Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) are the most common musculoskeletal conditions in the oral and facial areas accompanied by pain and dysfunction in temporomandibular joint (TMJ) or masticatory muscles. Common signs and symptoms of TMD are jaw pain, joint sounds, limited mouth opening, chewing difficulty, and mandibular deviation. These symptoms may exist alone or in combination with persistent, repetitive, or chronic characteristics, and are often associated with psychological variables [1]. In a Swedish population study, TMD-related pain, joint sounds, and bruxism were significantly higher in women than men [7]. Other studies found that women reported the TMD symptoms more frequently than men, such as joint sounds, pain on TMJ and masticatory muscles, and limitation of mouth opening [8,9,10,11,12,13]. Earlier epidemiologic studies reported that there was no significant gender difference in the prevalence of clinical signs and symptoms of TMD in the general population [14,15]
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