Temporomandibular disorders: a report of 124 patients

This study aims to present both the features of 124 consecutive patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) and the results of a reversible, conservative, and low-tech treatment.

One hundred fifty-eight records of consecutive patients treated in School of Dentistry at the Univag-University Center in Várzea Grande-MT, Brazil, 124 of whom were considered TMD patients, were examined. The following data were obtained: gender, age, main complaint, diagnosis, co-morbidities, type of treatment performed, and treatment results. The patients who received a successful treatment were contacted for reevaluation four to six years after the conclusion of treatment.

Pain was the main complaint for 92.7 percent of the patients. The majority of patients were female (female:male ratio of 4.1:1), with a peak age range between 20 and 30 years. Roughly 59.7 percent of the patients were diagnosed as having a muscular TMD, 12.9 percent as an articular TMD, and 27.4 percent as a mixed TMD. The success rate for treatment was 91.7 percent, and there was a tendency toward the long-term maintenance of good results.

The features of the 124 TMD patients treated were similar to those reported in the literature with regard to gender, age, and diagnostic prevalence. Most of the disorders were of a muscular origin, and there was a predominance of women between 20 and 30 years of age. The conservative, reversible, and low-tech treatment success rate for TMD can reach values above 90 percent. Therefore, there is no need for invasive, irreversible, expensive, or high-tech treatments for the majority of patients.

The majority of TMD patients can benefit from reversible, conservative, and low-tech treatments such as parafunction control and therapeutic exercises that can be performed by any clinician once an accurate diagnosis has been made.