Prevalence of Temporomandibular Disorder among Schoolchildren in Jordan

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) in schoolchildren.

In this study a questionnaire taken as part of RDC/TMD of the samples on TMD symptoms. The samples were school students, who were of the age range 15-17 years old (n = 396), 200 are males and 196 are females. All from eight randomly selected schools. They were asked to answer the questionnaire in their classrooms.

The prevalence of periauricular pain was 29.0%. More males were affected by TMD than females and most of the affected students were of ages 16 and 17 years old. Severe depression occurs in 69.6% of the affected students with periauricular pain. Periauricular pain resulted in low disability low-intensity pain (grade I) in 64.9%.

Based on the results obtained it can be concluded that: (1) Data obtained from the questionnaire identified a nearly lower percentage of TMD in schoolchildren than most of the studies published in the literature; (2) Comparing with females, males with TMD had a higher disability, depression, and non-specific symptoms with and without pain.

Temporomandibular disorder in adolescents is relatively high, in addition, the accompanying pain and depression that is high to worsen the condition.

Jomhawi JM, Elsamarneh AM, Hassan AM. Prevalence of Temporomandibular Disorder among Schoolchildren in Jordan. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2021;14(2):304-310.