The Arabic Fonseca Anamnestic Index: Psychometric properties and use for screening temporomandibular disorders in prospective orthodontic patients.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to develop/evaluate the psychometric properties of the Arabic Fonseca Anamnestic Index (FAI-A) and estimate the prevalence of TMDs in prospective orthodontic patients.

METHODS

The FAI-A was derived by forward-backward translation/cross-cultural adaption of the English FAI. Psychometric assessment of the FAI-A was performed with 308 orthodontic patients. Reliability was established via internal consistency and test-retest techniques, whereas, validity was verified by construct and convergent validity.

RESULTS

Cronbach's alpha value for the FAI-A was 0.77, and the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.99. For construct validity, the distribution of eigenvalues indicated that three items (mouth opening difficulty, jaw movement difficulty, and jaw fatigue) accounted for 60.5% of the total variance observed. For convergent validity, the FAI-A items were significantly correlated to the global question.

CONCLUSION

The FAI-A showed good reliability/validity and may be useful for screening TMDs. About 17% of prospective orthodontic patients presented with moderate-to-severe TMD symptoms.