(PR155) The Prevalence of TMD in Patients Referred to a Post Graduate Endodontic Clinic

Orofacial pain most commonly emanates from the dentition or the temporomandibular joint system. The proximity of these structures and referral of pain adds complexity and may confound endodontic diagnosis. Importantly, TMD has been shown to be more prevalent among patients in pain referred for endodontic treatment.

Objectives: This retrospective study assessed the overall prevalence of TMD in patients referred to a post-graduate endodontic program and examined associations with pulpal and periapical diagnoses using a 6-question screener. To the author’s knowledge, there is no research using the validated 6-question screener to estimate the overall prevalence of TMD.

Methods: A validated 6-question screener for TMD symptoms was created in 2011 associated with the landmark RDC-TMD project. The screener has been used in previous endodontic-TMD studies. The screener is administered as part of the routine diagnostic protocol at the post graduate training program. Data was collected from 100 consecutive screeners for patients ≥ 18 years old.

Results: The data was statistically analyzed for association between TMD and pulpal / periapical diagnosis and overall prevalence. The most significant finding was an overall prevalence of TMD of 33.6% in patients referred for endodontic treatment.

Conclusion: The prevalence of TMD in patients referred to the post-graduate endodontic clinic is higher than that found in the general US population, but lower than that found in other TMD-endodontic pain studies. This should raise awareness of multifactorial nature of pain in patients referred to endodontists and spur further investigation into TMD in endodontics.