Correlation between age and oral condition of the temporomandibular disorders

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether advanced age and denture usage affects the Anamnestic Index (Helkimo modified) for Temporomandibular disorders (TMD).

Method: 215 patients were elected to the sample. Of these, 154 were denture wearers (Group A) and 61 were naturally dentated (Group B). The subjects' ages ranged from 32 to 87 years old. Patients with complete dentures were divided into two sub-groups according to functional analysis of their current dentures. Group A was then composed of: holders of functionally (GA1) adequate (n=74) or (GA2) inadequate (n=80) dentures.

Result: As a measure of association between age and anamnestic index, Spearman correlation coefficients were obtained, equal to -0.223 (p=0.056), -0.226 (p=0.044) and -0.352 (p=0.005), for groups A1, A2 and B, respectively. For GB, the p value is less than 0.05, indicating the existence of negative correlation between age and anamnestic index. In groups A1 and A2, p values are close to 0.05, indicating little evidence of correlation. To assess whether an association exists between TMD and groups, chi-square test was applied obtaining χ2=11.32 with 4 degrees of freedom, which corresponds to the probability value p=0.023. Behaviors of GA2 and GB in relation to TMD are very similar, but not to GA1. There are more GA1 individuals without TMD; mild TMD is practically equivalent in all three groups and there are fewer individuals in GA1 with moderate or severe TMD.

Conclusion: It was concluded that the behavior of naturally dentated subjects differs from it of people with dentures in relation to TMD. For age, in GB the index decreases with its increase. This relation was not evident in GA. More severe oral condition indices for TMD were observed in GA2 and GB.