Evaluation of patient's quality life with joint and muscle dysfunction

The aim: was the evaluation the patient's quality of life with muscular and joint dysfunction of TMJ with using a modified profile questionnaire at various stages of orthopedic treatment. The study was conducted at the Department of Orthopedic Dentistry on the base of University Dental Center in Kharkiv National Medical University.

Materials and methods: Weconductedaclinicalexamination andsubjectiveanalysisof 125 patientsaged 20 to 60 years (mean age 38.5 ± 3), and 80 of themwith areliable diagnosisofdysfunction ofTMJ andacontrolgroupof 45 patientsof thesameage withoutpathologyofTMJ. Our profile questionnaire is intended for filling by the respondent (patient) at the three control stages of orthopedic treatment under the supervision of an orthopedic dentist (before the start of treatment, 1.5 months after the beginning of treatment and 3 months). The data obtained were subjected to a scaling process, converted into percentages to facilitate statistical analysis.

Results:The worst values before and after treatment were found in the 3rd and 4th age subgroups (30.5 ± 0.60 and 42.0 ± 0.7 points, respectively), with a mean of 10 and 13%, respectively, according to the proposed rating scale. In this case, the indicators have changed 1.3 times in the direction of increase. The highest level of QL was observed in patients of the 2nd (98.7 ± 0.8 points) and the 1st subgroups (102.3 ± 0.4 points), the average value for the three stages of treatment was 78% and 92%rating scales. Before of orthopedic treatment, the values were approximately the same.

Conclusions: The using of profile questionnaire of quality of life in patients with muscular and joint dysfunction of the TMJ is appropriate. The questionnaire can be used to evaluate the dynamics of orthopedic treatment of this complex pathology, and it can also be used as a prognostic criterion for the end of the disease.