Comorbidities and associated factors of painful temporomandibular disorder symptoms in the BigMouth Dental Data Repository
Source: PubMed Central Open Access, NCBI / U.S. National Library of Medicine
Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Self-reported painful temporomandibular disorder symptomatology is strongly associated with both somatic and psychological comorbidities, with the accumulation of somatic conditions increasing the odds of painful temporomandibular disorder symptoms. toc Abstract Introduction/Objectives: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are associated with multiple comorbidities; however, specific comorbidities may be differentially associated with painful and nonpainful TMD. We describe the prevalence of TMD symptoms, quantified associated comorbidities, and identified associated factors of painful TMD symptoms in a large database. Methods: Data were extracted from BigMouth repository (January 2014–May 2025) for adults with responses to TMD-related items of “pain upon chewing/talking/jaw use” (used to classify patients into self-reported “painful” vs “nonpainful TMD symptoms”), “jaw popping/clicking,” and “jaw locking.” Associations between painful TMD and comorbidities were calculated with χtests and prevalence ratios (PRs). Logistic regression identified factors associated with painful TMD symptoms. Results: Of 259,768 patients (46.5 ± 17.8 years old, 51.4% women), common symptoms were tooth grinding (21.3%), headaches (23.3%), pain on chewing (9.5%), temporomandibular joint noises (21.6%), and jaw locking (3.1%). Compared with those with nonpainful TMD, those with self-reported painful TMD symptoms had significantly higher prevalence
Abstract
Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Self-reported painful temporomandibular disorder symptomatology is strongly associated with both somatic and psychological comorbidities, with the accumulation of somatic conditions increasing the odds of painful temporomandibular disorder symptoms. toc Abstract Introduction/Objectives: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are associated with multiple comorbidities; however, specific comorbidities may be differentially associated with painful and nonpainful TMD. We describe the prevalence of TMD symptoms, quantified associated comorbidities, and identified associated factors of painful TMD symptoms in a large database. Methods: Data were extracted from BigMouth repository (January 2014–May 2025) for adults with responses to TMD-related items of “pain upon chewing/talking/jaw use” (used to classify patients into self-reported “painful” vs “nonpainful TMD symptoms”), “jaw popping/clicking,” and “jaw locking.” Associations between painful TMD and comorbidities were calculated with χtests and prevalence ratios (PRs). Logistic regression identified factors associated with painful TMD symptoms. Results: Of 259,768 patients (46.5 ± 17.8 years old, 51.4% women), common symptoms were tooth grinding (21.3%), headaches (23.3%), pain on chewing (9.5%), temporomandibular joint noises (21.6%), and jaw locking (3.1%). Compared with those with nonpainful TMD, those with self-reported painful TMD symptoms had significantly higher prevalence of headaches (38.8% vs 16.1%, PR = 2.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.36–2.46), arthritis (19.4% vs 16.1%, PR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.15–1.26), depression (34.7% vs 18.1%, PR = 1.91, 95% CI 1.84–1.98), anxiety (29.9% vs 21.8%, PR = 1.37, 95% CI 1.31–1.43), sleep apnea (17.7% vs 9.1%, PR = 1.95, 95% CI 1.86–2.05), and gastrointestinal issues (16.4% vs 9.8%, PR = 1.67, 95% CI 1.58–1.77, all's < 0.001). Each additional somatic comorbidity more than doubled the odds of having painful TMD (= 0.010, odds ratio = 2.67, 95% CI 1.26–5.63); age and sex were not associated. Conclusion: Painful TMD is strongly associated with psychological and somatic comorbidities. Accumulation of somatic comorbidities increases TMD risk, highlighting the need of integrated medical-dental approaches to TMD care.