Diagnoses among referrals to a Swedish clinic specialized in temporomandibular disorders

The purpose was to describe the distribution of diagnoses among all referrals to a clinic specialized in temporomandibular disorders (TMD). A series of 1500 consecutive patients, evaluated by 1 dentist, were diagnosed according to the criteria of The International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification: ICD-9-CM. Some referrals (12%) were never evaluated, were symptom-free, or were forwarded to other clinics. Various dental, neurogenic, occlusal, dentofacial, and other problems occurred. Vague orofacial pain was common, as was tension-type headache (6% each). More than 5% of the patients were affected by systemic disorders with manifestations in the temporomandibular joints. About half of all referrals could be strictly diagnosed with TMD. Myalgia was diagnosed as the main complaint in 19%. Internal derangement 'clicking' (15%) and 'closed lock' (6%) were more common than traumatic/ unspecified arthritis (6%) or osteoarthrosis (5%). A combination of myalgia and clicking appears to be the core sign in patients referred with TMD.