Aural symptoms in temporomandibular disorder patients

Abstract

The prevalence of aural symptoms in 100 patients withtemporomandibular disorder (TMD) were investigated andcompared with control group of 100 subjects without clinicalmanifestation of TMD. The relationship between otologic symptomsand severity of TMD signs was also evaluated.Examination of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) includedmaximum mouth opening, clicking, crepitation, locking, luxation,deviation of midline, masticatory muscle tenderness, andTMJ tenderness. All patients of the two groups were questionedabout feeling of ear complaints, including otalgia, tinnitus,and hearing loss.It was found that 48% of TMD patients complained ofone or more aural symptoms compared with 13% of the controls.There was a highly significant difference between thetwo groups (p<0.01).The prevalences of otalgia, tinnitus, and hearing loss inTMD patients were 36%, 27%, and 4% respectively. While inthe control group the prevalences were otalgia 6%, tinnitus10%, and hearing loss 1%. There were highly significant differencesbetween the two groups regarding otalgia and tinnitus(p<0.01).The evaluation of the relationship between aural symptomsand TMD signs, yielded a significant positive correlationbetween otalgia with clicking, number of tender muscles,and TMJ tenderness. While it reversibly correlated with mouthopening. Tinnitus was found to be positively correlatedwith clicking and number of tender muscles.From the results of this research, dentist and otolaryngologistmust act as a team in recognizing and diagnosingTMD and the otolaryngologists should refer patients with otalgiccomplaint without apparent ear diseases to a specialist inTMD for further evaluation