Psychological factors related to temporomandibular disorders: an evaluation of students preparing for college entrance examinations.

The aim of this study was to research how stress and anxiety affected the development of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) in 55 high school graduates at two different times: six months before and one the week before their college entrance examinations. The American Academy of Orofacial Pain (AAOP) Questionnaire, Lipp's Stress for Adults Inventory (ISSL) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were used to evaluate TMD, stress and anxiety, respectively. The data were submitted to Pearson's and Spearman's correlation tests. At first the results showed higher positive correlation between anxiety and TMD than between stress and TMD. Out of the total participants, 36% had TMD, and of these, only 12.7% had no psychological disorder. One week before the tests there were high positive correlations between TMD and the psychological factors studied, and 50.9% of the students had TMD, of which only 9% had no psychological disorder The most prevalent signs of TMD symptomatology were joint sounds and headache, followed by neck pain. It was concluded that students preparing to take college entrance examinations are a potential risk group for developing TMD due to psychological factors generating anxiety and stress. Anxiety becomes more significant as the semester progresses, and both anxiety and stress increase as the examination dates approach.