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TMD
pain is pain located in the temporomandibular joint and/or the
muscles of mastication. However, most lay people don't know the
anatomical names for these sites.
Epidemiologic
studies have used a range of questions to ascertain whether subjects
have pain in the temporomandibular region. Users can explore some
of these questions which are listed in Table 8.1.
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1.
Pain in your jaw joint
2. Pain in the muscles of your jaw or in
your jaw joints
3. Tightness in your jaw muscles
4. Pain, other than headache, in the facial
area
5. Facial and jaw pain
6. Pain in front of the ears
7. Pain in face, neck or around ears
8. Pain in face or jaws
9. Pain in the face in front of the ear
10. Pain in ear region
11. Pain in the muscles of the face, joint in front
of the ear or inside the
ear (other than an ear infection)
12. Headaches in or near the ear
13. Pain in the jaw joint or in front of the ear |
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As would be
expected, using a narrow definition (e.g. confining the inquiry
to pain in the joint itself, as in Definition 1 of Table 8.1)
results in a smaller percentage of people reporting pain than
does using a broader question (e.g. Definition 4, "pain,
other than headache, in the facial area").
Although each
definition is likely to result in a slightly different set of
cases (or potential cases, if multiple criteria are to be used)
studies inquiring about ongoing pain in the entire temporomandibular
region among adults (e.g. Definitions 2, 5, and 11) tend to yield
fairly similar prevalence rates of around 10%-15% (LeResche,
1997).
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