Comparisons of measures that evaluate oral and general health quality of life in patients with temporomandibular disorder and chronic pain.

Objective

To analyze the oral and general health related quality of life (HRQOL) measures, and to establish their ability to categorize chronic temporomandibular disorders (TMD).

Methods

Data were collected from 104 patients through a questionnaire with detailed socio-demographic information, the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14), the Short-Form-36 (SF-36), the Revised Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R), and the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) Axis I and II. Descriptive statistics were computed.

Results

Better self-rated health and having no muscle pain were the key predictors for better physical HRQOL, whereas higher levels of depression, worse self-rated health and mandibular functioning were highly associated with worse mental HRQOL. The oral HRQOL were significantly lower in TMD patients with higher pain-related disability and worse oral health rating.Discussion: The use of the OHIP-14 in chronic TMD patients may provide valuable clinical information for better assessing the pain-related disability when compared to SF-36.