The interaction between physical sign, and chronic pain depression and nonspecific physical symptoms, in patients with temporomandibular

Abstract

There are both physical and emotional components which are associated with the chronic pain of TMD patients. One of the difficuhies in making an accurate assessment of each component, is the lack of objective criteria for quantitative measurement of the emotional component. This need, lead to the development of Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) by Dworkin and LeResche (1992). The aim of this study was to use RDC criteria to record the prevalence, and associations between Axis I (physical) and AXIS TI(emotional) factors in a sample of 100 patients attending a TMD Clinic. Patients were examined using the RDC guidelines and the diagnosis classified as either, myogenic, disc displacement or arthritis. Patients completed a self-administered personal history questiotmaire which analyzed emotional factors including, chronic graded pain, depression and nonspecific physical symptoms such as headaches, faintness and lower back pain.