Material and Methods:

This is a prospective randomized longitudinal descriptive study. The sample included 76 patients, and Research Criteria for Diagnosing Temporomandibular Joint Disorders were used.

Results:

We found that 73.7% patients were female, particularly belonging to the 30-39 years age group (35.6%). TMJD etiology is multifactorial and it is related to structural, functional, and psychological factors. When diagnosing TMJD, headache was the main symptom (38.1%), and pain on palpation (51.4%) was the most prominent sign on clinical examination, particularly in females (38.2%). Mixed anxiety-depressive disorder, was the most frequent mental status alteration associated with TMJD found on clinical examination (50.0%), and it also was more frequently found in females (38.2%). A combination of general clinical and ear, nose, and throat examination allowed reaching a diagnosis in 77.6% of all subjects.

Conclusion:

Patients with TMJD who present with headache and concomitantly with anxiety-depression, require integrative and early therapy management, so they may be reinstalled to their working environment and improve their productivity. TMJD should be considered as a frequent cause of headache.

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