Non-compliance in patients with temporomandibular joint dysfunction

In a series of 367 patients complaining of temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJD) 78 individuals did not attend after their first or third visits. These non-complaint patients (subjects) were compared with patients completing treatment (controls) by means of a questionnaire. The results suggest that the reasons for non-compliance were a reluctance to wear an appliance particularly at night. The effect of excluding such patients from the analysis of clinical data is noted.