Characteristics of a group of patients with temporomandibular joint disorders.

Information concerning social, medical and dental characteristics was obtained from a group comprising 406 patients, 103 men and 303 women, all with some temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder. Median age for the men was 27 years, and for the women 33 years. Individuals belonging to the middle and upper social classes were clearly overrepresented. Self-reports on general health indicated no obvious deviation from levels which might be expected to prevail in the general population. Dental health tended to be slightly ahead of Norwegian general standards. Eighty-two percent of the group were found to have a mandibular pain dysfunction syndrome (MDS), 11% had chronic osteoarthritis, and 7% suffered from other arthropathies of traumatic as well as rheumatologic origin. The proportion of patients with MDS was inversely related to age, and after the age of 40, the relative frequency of MDS also fell slightly with the lowering of social class. Presumably the social composition of the clientele reflected differences in the seeking of treatment, rather than in the "true" disease prevalences. No indication was found for assuming that dental factors had played major and independent roles in the development of the disorders.