Prevalence and comparison of temporomandibular disorders according to Axis I in RDC/TMD and DC/TMD: a cross-sectional study

This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of different temporomandibular disorder (TMD) diagnoses according to the Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (DC/TMD) and the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) and to compare the diagnoses according to both guidelines.

Clinical examinations of 218 patients with TMD complaints were conducted according to both guidelines. Descriptive statistics were performed to analyze the frequency of diagnoses and differences between the guidelines.

Most patients diagnosed with TMD were women and middle-aged. The number of patients in the myofascial pain class was significantly lower for the RDC/TMD classification than for the DC/TMD classification (P = .045). The number of patients in the disc displacement with reduction category was significantly higher for the RDC/TMD classification than for the DC/TMD classification (P .001). Other categories did not exhibit differences between the classifications.

Women and middle-aged individuals are more affected by TMDs. Pain-related TMDs were the most common diagnosis, followed by disc displacement with reduction according to DC/TMD. According to the RDC/TMD classification, myofascial pain, arthralgia, and disc displacement with reduction were the most commonly observed diagnoses, respectively. Significant differences were observed between the pain-related TMD and disc displacement with reduction groups.