Association of risk factors with temporomandibular disorders in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966.

Objective: To investigate the association between risk factors and pain-related symptoms and clinical signs of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) in Northern Finland Birth Cohort (NFBC) 1966.
Material and Methods: A total of 1962 subjects (1050 women, 912 men) attended the follow-up study. The questionnaires included the subjects' background information concerning living conditions and general health, socioeconomic factors, and dental health. The clinical examination was performed using the modified protocol of Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (DC/TMD) presented at the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) Conference in 2010. Cross-tabulation, a chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used to analyze differences between groups.
Results: Female gender showed statistically significant association with symptoms and signs of TMD, while marital status, living conditions, and socioeconomic group showed no association. A strong association was found between self-reported health condition as well as general health problems [i.e. depression, migraine, fibromyalgia (FM), gastrointestinal diseases] and TMD pain-related symptoms and pain on palpation in the masticatory muscles and TMJs.
Conclusion: In conclusion, general health problems and female gender had a strong association with pain-related symptoms and clinical signs of TMD. These findings are important to take into account when diagnosing and treating TMD patients. Conversely to earlier presented results, no statistically significant association was shown here between marital status, living conditions or socioeconomic group and pain-related symptoms and clinical signs of TMD.