Use of the Fonseca's questionnaire to assess the prevalence and severity of temporomandibular disorders in brazilian dental undergraduates

• Autor(a) principal: Nomura,Kariny
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Outros Autores: Vitti,Mathias, Oliveira,Anamaria Siriani de, Chaves,Thaís Cristina, Semprini,Marisa, Siéssere,Selma, Hallak,Jaime Eduardo Cecilio, Regalo,Simone Cecilio Hallak
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Dental Journal
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-64402007000200015
• topic: temporomandibular disorder; pain; Fonseca's questionnaire

This study to assessed the prevalence of signs and symptoms of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) by means of the frequency distribution of data for 218 dentistry students from a Brazilian public university using the Fonseca's questionnaire. The group consisted of 96 men and 122 women, with an average age of 20 years. Of the students, 53.21% showed some level of TMD: 35.78% mild TMD 11.93% moderate and 5.5% severe. Women were the most affected group, with 63.11% showing some level of TMD, against 40.62% of men. When considering only severe TMD, women are approximately 9 times more affected than men. Students with any level of TMD showed marked characteristics: 76.72% considered themselves tense people; 71.55% reported to clench or grind their teeth; 65.52% reported clicking of the temporomandibular joint; 64.66% reported frequent headache and 61.21% neck pain. In conclusion, clinical signs and symptoms of TMD can occur in young population and this information is of great importance for the early diagnosis of the dysfunction.