Prevalence of Temporomandibular Joint Disorder among Patients Attending Private Dental College, Chennai

Abstract

Temporomandibular joint and muscle disorder commonly called “TMJ ‘’ disorder, are a group of conditions
that cause pain and dysfunction in the jaw joint and the muscle that control the jaw movement. The general
and clinical consequences of discomfort, pain and disturbance of mastication are similar in most patients.
TMD can be caused by injury to the jaw, TMJ or muscles on head and neck, such as from a heavy blow.
Other causes includes: Grinding or clenching the teeth (puts a lot of pressure on TMJ), dislocation of the
soft cushion or disc between the ball and socket, presence of osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis in the
TMJ, stress which can cause a person to tighten muscles in the face and jaw as to clench the teeth. Some
symptoms of TMD are like - Pain and tenderness, clicking, popping or limited jaw opening or there will
be swelling on the side of the face.Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of TMJ
disorder attending private dental colleges in Chennai. Case sheet of all the patients reporting to the OPD
of Saveetha Dental College with TMJ problems.The study was conducted between June 2019-March 2020.
This university setting study a sample of 61pateints.Data tabulated with parameters of age, gender and TMD
types Microsoft excel 2016 (microsoft office 10) was used to collect data and later was imported to spss
software for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics having frequency, percentage and chi-square test done
for association.The prevalence of TMD Temporomandibular joint disorder was found to be more among
males than females. Among the age groups of 11-25 years, 26-40 years and above 40 years, TMJ disorder
was more prevalent between 26-40 years age group (64.41%). Prevalence of TMD Degenerative disorder,
Disc condyle disorder and MPDS among them Disc condyle is more common(61.02%) as compared to
others. The association between age and TMD was found to be statistically highly significant using chisquare test (p<0.001).Within the limit of this study,male were more affected and the disc condyle disorder
was more common among study participants in the age group between 26-40 year.