Prevalence of self-reported pain-related temporomandibular disorders and association with psychological distress in a dental clinic setting

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of self-reported pain-related temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) and its association with psychological status in a dental clinic setting.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, patients were asked to complete a TMD pain screener and the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4). Correlations between symptoms of pain-related TMDs and PHQ-4 scores were analysed using Spearman's correlation test. Symptoms of pain-related TMDs were compared between four groups of participants with different psychological profiles using the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by multiple comparisons. The level of significance was adjusted using the Dunn-Bonferroni test.

Results: The prevalence of self-reported pain-related TMDs was 22.2%. TMD pain score was positively correlated with PHQ-4 score. The high anxiety and the comorbidity groups had significantly higher TMD pain scores than the controls.

Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of self-reported pain-related TMDs, which was correlated with scores on all psychological assessment scales. Symptoms of pain-related TMDs were significantly greater in patients with high anxiety scores, regardless of depression level.