title: Use of the Fonseca's questionnaire to assess the prevalence and severity of temporomandibular disorders in Brazilian dental undergraduates.
abstract: This study to assessed the prevalence of signs and symptoms of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) by means of the frequency distribution of data for 218 dentistry students from a Brazilian public university using the Fonseca's questionnaire. The group consisted of 96 men and 122 women, with an average age of 20 years. Of the students, 53.21% showed some level of TMD: 35.78% mild TMD 11.93% moderate and 5.5% severe. Women were the most affected group, with 63.11% showing some level of TMD, against 40.62% of men. When considering only severe TMD, women are approximately 9 times more affected than men. Students with any level of TMD showed marked characteristics: 76.72% considered themselves tense people; 71.55% reported to clench or grind their teeth; 65.52% reported clicking of the temporomandibular joint; 64.66% reported frequent headache and 61.21% neck pain. In conclusion, clinical signs and symptoms of TMD can occur in young population and this information is of great importance for the early diagnosis of the dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Kariny
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vitti
authors.forename: Anamaria Siriani de
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Thaís Cristina
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Chaves
authors.forename: Marisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Semprini
authors.forename: Selma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Siéssere
authors.forename: Jaime Eduardo Cecilio
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Hallak
authors.forename: Simone Cecilio Hallak
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Regalo
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002012:Bruxism / Q000453:epidemiology; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013705:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult