Familial occurrence of signs of temporomandibular disorders in headache children and their mothers.
OBJECTIVE
Earlier studies have provided evidence of genetic inheritance of headache, especially migraine, but no familial occurrence has been found regarding temporomandibular disorders (TMD). In adults, headache and TMD have been found to be associated with each other, but studies on children are few. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that there is no association between signs of TMD in 13-year-old headache children and their mothers.


METHODS
The study population was a nested case-control study of the population-based Finnish Family Competence Study originally consisting of over 1000 families. A structured questionnaire was sent to the families of 6-year-old children. A clinical examination was performed in 96 children with headache and 96 pairwise controls. At the age of 13 years, 75 of these same 96 children with headache and 79 of 96 headache-free controls participated in pediatric and stomatognathic examinations. Moreover, the mothers (n=154) filled in a structured headache questionnaire and participated in the stomatognathic examination.


RESULTS
No association between mother's and child's TMD signs was found. There was a significant association between signs of TMD and both migraine and tension-type headache in children. In mothers, the association was significant only between migraine and TMD signs.


CONCLUSIONS
Familial occurrence of signs of TMD cannot be found in headache children and their mothers.
Liljeström
Marjo-Riitta
MR
Institute of Dentistry, University of Turku, Finland. marjo-riitta.liljestrom@fimnet.fi
Aromaa
Minna
M
Bell
Yrsa Le
YL
Jämsä
Tapio
T
Helenius
Hans
H
Virtanen
Ruut
R
Anttila
Pirjo
P
Metsähonkala
Liisa
L
Rautava
Päivi
P
Alanen
Pentti
P
Sillanpää
Matti
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D051270:Headache Disorders, Primary / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D009035:Mothers; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013705:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*