Introduction: Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) is the most common cause of orofacial pain with non-dental origin, being pain the most frequent symptom. Bruxism is a movement disorder characterized by the clenching or grinding of teeth, often associated with TMD. The numerical scale has been widely used to record pain intensity.
Objective: To evaluate the evolution of pain intensity in patients diagnosed with TMD and / or Bruxism before and after treatment, using the numerical scale.
Materials and Methods: Longitudinal retrospective study to 5 years, carried out by consulting clinical processes in a university clinic (2015-2020).
Results: For all groups, there was a reduction in pain intensity. The evolution of pain intensity was more significant for patients with TMD II, this reduction being 63.3% at peak, 80% in latency and 85.7% in current pain. Likewise, there was a more notable evolution for patients with Mixed Bruxism, with a decrease of 58.2% at peak, 86.5% in latency and 74% in current pain.
Discussion: The population of this study is characterized by 80.2% of female patients and the average age is 42.2 years. Conservative therapy appears to be associated with symptom relief in both TMD and Bruxism cases. These results are according to previous studies.
Conclusion: Pain intensity decreased in most diagnoses studied after conservative treatments. Clinical Implications: The pain scale has shown good clinical applicability for monitoring patients with TMD and/or Bruxism. Conservative treatments seem to have a positive effect on painful symptoms.
Keywords: Temporomandibular disorder, pain intensity, numerical scale, Bruxism
