Depression, hassles and somatic symptoms in mandibular dysfunction syndrome patients

Thirty-seven patients with mandibular dysfunction syndrome (MDS) and 30 age-, sex- and education-matched dental outpatient controls were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory, the Hassles Scale and a symptom checklist derived from the DSM-III criteria for somatization disorder. MDS patients had higher levels of depressive symptoms than control patients (P less than 0.05), though only five out of 37 (13.5 per cent) of the MDS patients had depression intensity levels suggesting clinically significant psychopathology. No significant differences were found between MDS patients and controls on the Hassles Scale, which fails to support the stress-induced muscular hyperactivity theory for the aetiology of MDS syndrome. MDS patients reported having a past history of more somatic symptoms than did controls (P less than 0.05). MDS patients were divided by a clinician into 'physical' and 'functional' groups based on their clinical history. Contrary to expectation, there were no between-group differences on any of the above-mentioned psychological variables.