Evaluation of the prevalence of temporomandibular dysfunction, and stress of students in the dentistry course
International Journal of Development Research
Evaluation of the prevalence of temporomandibular dysfunction, and stress of students in the dentistry course
Received 27th March, 2020; Received in revised form 22nd April, 2020; Accepted 06th May, 2020; Published online 29th June, 2020
Copyright © 2020, DALLANORA, Léa Maria Franceschi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The quality of life is directly associated to possible problems of chronic pain and dysfunction of the human body. The temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) are defined as, disorders that affect the chewing muscles, temporomandibular joints (TMJ) and other structures of the stomatognathic system. Signs and symptoms can hinder the performance of routine activities the academic performance of an individual. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life and TMDs in students from the initial and final phases of the Dentistry course at Unoesc and to compare the two groups. It was a documentary study, approved by the ethics committee under opinion 761,319, developed through the application of two questionnaires, the SF-12 to assess quality of life, and the DC/TMD axis II to assess the presence of temporomandibular disorders. The sample was performed in two groups: the initial comprising phases 1,3,5 and the final with students from phases 7,8,9 and 10. The questionnaires were answered in the first month of class, in personally and online, before the first evaluations happening, so that this fact did not appear as a stressful bias in the research. The study included 52.17% of academics in the early stages and 47.8% of academics in the final stages. The results showed a high number of students with a predisposition to temporomandibular disorders. The final phases showed better control and care with oral health in general health, but an emotional lack of control related to study overload and the end of academic life. Of the academics, 29.8% said they suffered from migraines or headaches, with 99% of those affected being in the group of final stages. As for TMJ pain, 11.7% of the initial phases, 9.1% of the final phases, responded positively, and in both groups related to some emotional dysfunction present in the quality of life, as all of them responded with feelings of anguish, sadness and lack of motivation. As soon, the strong link between quality of life and TMD is understood.
