Impact of temporomandibular disorders on oral health-related quality of life of institutionalized elderly people

Objective: to assess the characteristics associated withtemporomandibular disorders (TMD) and their impacton oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of institutionalizedelderly people. Subjects and method: itwas a cross-sectional study performed in 30 private institutionsfor the elderly. The data collected included theTMD questionnaire and clinical evaluation assessed bythe Research Diagnostic Criteria/TemporomandibularDisorders (RDC/TMD), as well as the OHIP-49 questionnairefor OHRQoL. Results: twenty-four institutionsaccepted to participate in the study (n = 375 with 133fit for answering both questionnaires). Considering thecharacteristics, tinnitus was the most frequent symptomreported, while 98.5% of the research participants didnot present myofascial pain. Disc displacement wasobserved in 26.3%, while 93% of individuals did notpresent chronic pain. Severe depression was found in23.3% of the elderly with 24.1% presenting moderatelevels of non-specific physical symptoms, includingpain. Poisson regression analysis showed that the characteristicsreported were associated with a negativeimpact on OHRQoL. Conclusion: the domain-specificanalysis showed that all domains were affected negativelyby TMD characteristics and higher levels of depressionare associated with a negative impact on OHRQoL. Keywords: Elderly people. Oral health-related qualityof life. Temporomandibular disorders. Facial pain. Depression.