Is malocclusion a predictor of pain in patients suffering from TMD pain?

Background: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) affect the masticatory muscles, temporomandibular joints (TMJs) and associated structures. The relationship between occlusion and TMD is a contentious issue in the dental field.

Objectives: Although there is a strong argument against invasive and irreversible therapeutic TMD procedures, the TMD biopsychosocial model is still not accepted by some clinicians. Hence, this study aimed to verify whether malocclusions are related to TMD pain.

Material And Methods: The study included 49 adult patients with one or multiple TMD diagnoses and without any other diseases that could mimic TMD. A reliable investigator diagnosed the patients using the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) protocol. The sample was divided into pain and non-pain TMD groups, and the predictor of malocclusion was categorized as the dependent variable. There were 33 patients in the TMD pain group and 16 patients in the non-pain TMD group. Analyses were conducted at a significance level of 0.05. The χ2 test (with Yates' correction for 2 × 2 matrix) was used to compare qualitative variables between the groups.

Results: Malocclusion was present in 13 patients in the pain group and 7 patients in the non-pain group.

Conclusions: According to our study, there is no correlation between malocclusion and TMD pain.