Alcohol Abuse in the Dental Patient and Temporomandibular Disorder Caused by Trauma

The aim of the paper was to describe the multidimensional character of alcoholism and its effects on oral health, with a review of the relation between the traumatogenic factor of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) and bruxism development. The difference between moderate drinking and the development of alcohol addiction which leads to alcoholism-related medical, social, legal and economic issues is not always clear. Alcoholism is often hidden within the private and wider social framework of a patient. Oral diseases are easy to notice in recorded alcoholics as well as in, for example, smokers. TMDs consist of a disorder of masticatory muscles and/or a disorder of temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Since the traumatogenic factor of individuals under the influence of alcohol is clearly evident, it can potentially become an initializing factor of TMJ disorder's clinical signs and symptoms development. A modern approach to the etiopathogenesis is to include the multifactorial model, that is, combinations of potential factors with various individual importances. In everyday dental practice, co-morbidities of oral diseases and alcoholism are expected more often, as well as oral diseases with their etiopathogenesis partially related to alcohol use.