Evaluation of psychological factors in orthodontic patients with TMD as applied to the "TMJ Scale"

Physical and psychological evaluation have been required for TMD patients whose problems are multi dimensional. The questionnaire named the "TMJ Scale" was created to differentiate subjective TMD symptoms of patients. The purpose of this study was to clarify the reliability of the TMJ Scale for Japanese orthodontic patients with TMD and to differentiate the symptoms. Fifty orthodontic patients (average age 21y4m) with a chief complaint of TMD symptoms were compared with thirty patients (average age 21y1m) without TMD symptoms. The results were as follows: female patients in the symptom group in particular showed a higher degree of stress due to the chronic pain and abnormalities than those in the non-symptom group. Significant differences were observed in Pain Report, Joint Dysfunction and Global Scale at the 0.1% significant level, in Non-TM Disorder, Psychological Factor and Chronicity at the 1% level, and in Palpation Pain and Perceived Malocclusion at the 5% level in females. Few psychological problems were observed in male patients in the symptom group. Significant differences were observed in Range of Motion limitation at the 5% level in males. The differences in the psychological factors between male and female patients were clarified by using the TMJ Scale. These findings suggested that it was useful to differentiate the multiple symptoms, especially the psychological factors, by using the TMJ Scale for orthodontic patients with TMD.