Anxiety, splint treatment and clinical characteristics of patients with osteoarthritis of temporomandibular joint and dental students – a pilot study.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of splint treatment for therapy of osteoarthritis of temporomandibular joint, and to compare the level of anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory,STAI) and clinical characteristics between 16 patients and 20 asymptomatic dental school students. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used for all subjects. Dental students showed a statistically signiicant higher capacity of mouth opening (p<0.05), and lower level of anxiety (p<0.05 for STAI 1, and p<0.001 for STAI 2) than patients. Patients who had suffered chronic pain before splint treatment had a higher value of anxiety by STAI 1 test (p<0.05).

Keywords

• temporomandibular joint
• osteoarthritis
• magnetic resonance imaging
• anxiety