Association of clinical findings of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) with self-reported musculoskeletal pains

Abstract

Background and aims: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) can be related to self-reported musculoskeletal pains. The aim of the study was to investigate the association of clinical findings of TMD with self-reported pain in other parts of the body, and to discriminate pain clusters according to definite profiles of pain conditions including TMD among subjects in general population.

Methods: A nationally representative Health 2000 Survey was carried out in 2000-2001 in Finland. The data were obtained from 6227 subjects aged ⩾30years. Information about pain in different parts of the body was collected from a questionnaire. The associations between clinically assessed TMD findings and pain in other areas were analyzed using chi-square test and logistic regression analyses. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to form natural clusters, i.e., groups in which the individuals had similar profiles of pain conditions.

Results: Masticatory muscle pain on palpation associated with back, neck and shoulder pain and pain in joints. Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain on palpation associated with back, neck, shoulder and other joint pain. These associations did not change essentially after adjustment for confounders. After clustering of the study population with the LCA, 5.8% of the study population showed a multiple pain condition linked with TMD findings. Female gender, intermediate/poor self-reported health and presence of a longstanding illness increased the probability to belong to this cluster.

Conclusions: TMD findings associate with pain in several locations. Female gender and presence of impaired health were particularly related to occurrence of multiple pain conditions.