Association between symptoms of temporomandibular disorders and gender, morphological occlusion, and psychological factors in a group of university students

Aim: 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.

Materials and 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).

Statistical analysis: 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.

Conclusion: 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.