An 8-year Follow-up Study of Temporomandibular Disorder and Psychosomatic Symptoms from Adolescence to Young Adulthood

Aims: To assess the prevalence of subjective symptoms of pain and/or temporomandibular disorder (TMD) dysfunction and their association with psychosomatic (PS) symptoms in a longitudinal follow-up study of Finnish young adults over an 8-year period. Methods: One hundred twenty-eight Finnish young adults (60 men and 68 women) were assessed longitudinally at the ages of 15, 18, and 23 years using routine stomatognathic methods and a standardized questionnaire. Results: The prevalence of reported TMD symptoms ranged from 6% to 12% for pain symptoms, from 12% to 28% for dysfunctional symptoms, and from 4% to 7% for a combination of these 2 types of symptoms. The prevalence of PS symptoms, which were constantly present in many of the patients who reported them, ranged from 7% to 11%. A significant correlation (P .05) was found between TMD pain and PS symptoms at the ages of 15 and 18 years. PS symptoms were not significantly correlated to TMD dysfunction symptoms or to experiencing no symptoms at any age. The majority of subjects in all age groups with both TMD and PS symptoms were female, in a ratio of approximately 2 to 1. Conclusion: The prevalence of TMD and PS symptoms was low in adolescence and young adulthood, and there was a significant association, although relatively weak, between PS symptoms and reports of either TMD pain or a combination of TMD pain and dysfunction symptoms. Keywords: longitudinal studies, prospective studies, psychosomatic symptoms, temporomandibular disorders