Many studies have shown mutual interaction between temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and psychological distress. However, evidence on the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions for TMD on psychological outcomes is scarce. This review aimed to summarise the best evidence on the association between interventions for TMD and psychological outcomes regarding symptoms of anxiety and depression. Electronic search was carried out in databases, including Pubmed, Web of Science, Medline, Cochrane Library, and Scopus. All eligible studies were included for narrative synthesis. Eligible randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were included for the meta-analysis. The overall effect size of interventions for TMD was analysed in standardised mean difference (SMD) in levels of anxiety and depression. Ten studies were included in the systematic review. Of these, nine were included in the narrative analysis and four were included in the meta-analysis. All included studies and the result of the narrative analysis showed a statistically significant beneficial effect of interventions for TMD on improving symptoms of anxiety and depression (p < 0.0001); however, a statistically significant overall effect was not found in the meta-analyses. Current evidence is in favour of the interventions for TMD in improving symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, the effect is statistically uncertain and warrants future studies to enable the best synthesis of the evidence.
Keywords: anxiety disorders; depression; psychological distress; temporomandibular joint disorders.