Temporomandibular disorders.

Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) do not only affect adults; however, the prevalence of TMD in children and adolescents is still not well known.

Therefore, the Multidisciplinary Department of Medical-Surgical and Odontostomatological Specialties of the University of Campania in Naples - with the participation of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, the University of Messina, and the University of Catania - has conducted a systematic review with meta-analysis to address this gap, which has been published in the Journal of Oral Rehabilitation.

To conduct this systematic review, the researchers searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Lilacs databases containing publications on the topic. Among the 40 articles identified, they selected three. The subjects included in the review were 1914: 1093 women and 821 men. Of these, 736 (38.4%) were affected by TMD. Among women, the disorder was present in 44.7% of the sample, while among men, it was present in 30% of the cases.

TMD is a growing problem among young people.

TMDs are an increasingly common problem among children and adolescents. They cause pain and dysfunction of the temporomandibular joints that can last long, even becoming chronic. The prevalence of TMJ in young people ranges from 4% to 68% in the literature. The disorder often goes undiagnosed, but there is no universal definition of temporomandibular disorders.

The authors of this systematic review of TMD reached the following conclusions: firstly, that this disorder affects young people with a frequency between 20% and 60%; women seem to be more prone than men, perhaps for hormonal reasons or other physiological differences; more research is needed, but above all more precise and adequate diagnostic criteria for the pediatric population, considering that the appearance of these disorders is not always easily attributable by the child to the adult and much less to the pediatrician or dentist.