A Cross-Sectional Study of Temporomandibular Disorders Among Postgraduate Students

To investigate temporomandibular disorder (TMD) prevalence as well as potential TMD risk factors among postgraduate students.

In this cross-sectional and correlation study, 1,255 postgraduate students from different universities were recruited to answer Fonseca's Anamnestic Index (FAI) in addition to collected demographic data and relevant dental history. FAI was used to classify TMD severity. Of the 1,255 participants included, 593 had previous clinical/radiographic TMD reports. Chi-square and Fisher exact tests investigated the relation between each predictor and TMD at P ≤ .05. A logistic binary regression analysis examined the model fit using -2Log likelihood and Pseudo R2 tests at P ≤ .05.

Based on previous clinical/radiographic reports and FAI, 73.4% of the participants had TMDs, of whom 57% had mild dysfunction, followed by moderate (31.7%) and severe (11.3%). There was a statistically significant association between sex, depression, lip/object biting, and clenching with TMDs (P < .001), where women were 2.302 times more likely to develop TMDs than men. The combination of lip biting and clenching in women dramatically increased the risk of TMDs (-2Log Likelihood = 385.7, P < .001 and a Cox and Snell value = 0.315 and a Nagelkerke value = 0.395).

TMDs seem to be highly prevalent among postgraduate students in Egypt, and female postgraduate students who bite their lips or grind their teeth are particularly highly prone to the condition. Object biting and depression could also be considered risk factors.