Association between symptoms of temporomandibular disorders and gender, morphological occlusion, and psychological factors in a group of university students.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to find out the prevalence of temporomandibular disorder (TMD) in a sample of university students and its relationship to gender, occlusion, and psychological factors.


METHODS
The sample comprised 196 subjects, aged 18-25 years. The TMD degree was evaluated using an anamnestic questionnaire. Morphologic occlusion was evaluated according to Angle classification (classes I, II, and III). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), a 14-item self-administered rating scale developed specifically to identify anxiety and depression in nonpsychiatric medical outpatients, was used to assess the levels of anxiety (HADSa) and depression (HADSd).


METHODS
The incidence of TMD level, malocclusion, anxiety, and depression in both genders was calculated as percentages. Association between TMD degree and occlusion, HADSa, and HADSd was tested using the Chi-square test.


RESULTS
According to our results, 50% of the subjects had TMD, but it was of moderate or severe degree in only 9.18% of them. No statistically significant association could be found between TMD and gender or occlusion. TMD was found to have statistically significant association with HADSa but not with HADSd.


CONCLUSIONS
A high prevalence of TMD was found in this student population; however, most of the cases could be classified as mild. Of the variables studied, only HADSa had a statistically significant association with TMD.
Bonjardim
Leonardo R
LR
Department of Physiology, Federal University of Sergipe, Aracaju-SE, Brazil. lbonjardim@yahoo.com.br
Lopes-Filho
Ricardo J
RJ
Amado
Guilherme
G
Albuquerque
Ricardo L C
RL
Goncalves
Suzane R J
SR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008311:Malocclusion, Angle Class I / Q000453:epidemiology; D008312:Malocclusion, Angle Class II / Q000453:epidemiology; D008313:Malocclusion, Angle Class III / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013705:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult