Diagnosis and prevalence of temporomandibular disorders in students of Dentistry Course of Lutheran University of Brazil – Canoas/RS

Abstract

It was proposed in this paper a study on the diagnosis and prevalence of signs and symptoms   of   Temporo-­Mandibular   Dysfunction   (TMD)   in   students   of   Dentistry   of   Lutheran University  of  Brazil  –  Canoas/RS.  The  sample  comprised  280  individuals,  average  of  23.5  years,   and  71  (25.35%)  were  male  and  209  (74.64%)  female.  The  evaluation  was  performed  using  the   questionnaire  proposed  by  Fonseca  (1992),  used  to  classify  the  severity  of  TMD  and  to  obtain epidemiological data. Data analysis was used descriptive statistics and Chi-square for the cross between  variables.  The  results  showed  that  only  1  (0.4%)  individuals  did  not  show  some  degree   of  TMD,  83  (29.69%)  had  mild  TMD,  171  (61.1%)  moderate  TMD  and  25  (8.9%)  TMD  severe.   Students  in  any  degree  with  TMD  showed  remarkable  features  such  as:  79  (28.2%)  considered   themselves  tense  people;;  78  (27.85%),  clenching  or  grinding  teeth,  84  (30.4%)  had  TMJ  sounds,   74   (26.4%)   presented   with   headache   frequency   and   52   (18.6%)   had   neck   pain   or   torticollis. It was observed a high prevalence of TMD in the population studied, suggesting the need to include examination for signs and symptoms of TMD, as a routine for the general practitioner as well as other specialities.