Subtypes of temporomandibular disorders in patients diagnosed with otalgia: observational study

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) has complex symptoms that involve the orofacial region, such as otalgia. Considering the difficult differential diagnoses for associating otological symptoms with TMD. The aim of this study was to verify the diagnosis of TMD in patients with otalgia. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study, where 75 patients diagnosed with otalgia were evaluated. The European Academy of Craniomandibular Disorders’s (EACD) screening questionnaire was initially applied, and those who answered affirmatively to at least one question were evaluated by the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (DC/TMD), with a final sample of 50 patients. Data were tabulated and ANOVA verified whether there was a statistical difference between TMD subtypes classified by DC/TMD, considering confidence intervals with 95% significance. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 39.9±14.1 years, with a predominance of females (76%) (p<<0.0001). Among those diagnosed with TMD, females also predominated, with a higher percentage in all evaluated subtypes, with emphasis on arthralgia (82%) and myofascial pain with limited opening (81.8%), followed by myofascial pain (74%) and disc displacement with reduction (72.7%). When observing the distribution of TMD subtypes between genders, there was a predominance of myofascial pain in males (75%) and females (68%), but no statistical significance was observed in this variable and in the others studied. CONCLUSION: Patients with otalgia had one or more TMD subtypes, and the myofascial subtype TMD was the most prevalent among study participants.

Keywords

• earache
• facial pain
• temporomandibular joint disorder