Temporomandibular Disorders at the Preoperative Time of Orthognathic Surgery

Individuals seeking orthodontic treatment combined with orthognathic surgery (OS) have a high prevalence of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs), but the relationship between TMD diagnoses and dentofacial deformities (DFDs) is still controversial. Therefore, this cross-sectional study with a comparison group aimed to analyze the association between dentofacial deformities and TMDs.

Eighty patients undergoing OS were consecutively selected from the stomatology department of the Federal University of Paraná between July 2021 and July 2022. Forty patients who would undergo OS composed the group of participants with DFD, and forty who received other types of attention and did not present changes in the dental bone bases formed the group without DFDs (DFDs and no DFDs groups). The groups were matched for sex, age, and self-reported ethnicity. The diagnostic criteria for TMDs (DC/TMDs) were used to diagnose TMD based on the Axis I criteria. The psychosocial aspects, oral behaviors in wakefulness, and sleep bruxism were evaluated through the Axis II criteria. The data were analyzed with a 5% significance level.

The presence of DFDs was significantly associated with arthralgia (p = 0.01). The other types of TMDs were not associated with DFDs. Comorbidities, habits, and psychosocial variables were not associated with DFDs at a level of 0.05. (p > 0.05). In analyzing the participants with arthralgia, the ones with this condition presented higher frequencies of sleep bruxism (p = 0.046).

Participants with DFDs presented a significantly higher frequency of arthralgia when compared to no DFDs ones. Sleep bruxism was associated with the occurrence of joint TMDs in these participants.