Prevalence of TMJ pain symptom in adults and its association with predisposing factors

Abstract

To estimate the prevalence of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain symptom and to verify its association with predisposing or perpetuating factors. Cross-sectional study of adult patients, with 488 medical records of patients assisted at the Clinics of the School of Dentistry of IMED, in the city of Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil. The data were collected through the anamnestic record based on patient self-report. The chi-square test at 5% significance level was used to evaluate the relationship between the outcome of TMJ pain and the variables. In addition, bivariate and multivariate Poisson analyses were performed at 5% significance level to confirm the associations, including to the multivariate analysis the variables with p ≤ 0.20 in the bivariate analysis. The prevalence of TMJ pain in this adult population was 21.52% (n=105). There was an association between TMJ pain and the variables of teeth clenching and habit of biting objects (p<0.05). This study concluded that the prevalence of TMJ pain symptom agrees with the mean prevalence found in the literature for studies with convenience samples, and teeth clenching and the habit of biting objects may represent perpetuating or predisposing factors for such condition.