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Symptoms of craniomandibular disorder amongelderly people
Author(s) -
OW R.K.K.,
LOH T.,
NEO J.,
KHOO J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of oral rehabilitation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2842
pISSN - 0305-182X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2842.1995.tb00794.x
Subject(s) - headaches , medicine , signs and symptoms , dentistry , psychiatry , surgery
SUMMARY This study investigated the subjective symptoms of craniomandibular disorder and the restriction in maximal mandibular opening of 891 elderly Singaporean citizens. A distribution of 22% of subjects (20% of the women and 26% of the men) reported subjective symptoms of craniomandibular disorders. The most common single symptom reported was occasional to frequent clicking sounds from the temporomandibular joints (in 15% of subjects). The other single symptoms were reported only occasionally in 2–6% of subjects. Nineteen per cent of the subjects had some restriction in maximal interincisal opening (30–39 mm) and about 1% of subjects were severely restricted in maximal opening (less than 30 mm). Subjectively evaluated limitation of wide mandibular opening was recorded for only 2% of the subjects. Background factors included general musculo‐skeletal problems (54%), perceived fair to poor general health (29%), headaches (33%), work‐related stress (24%), oral parafunctional clenching (4%) and grinding activity (4%). This paper confirms earlier reports that the subjective signs and symptoms of craniomandibular disorder tend to diminish in elderly people.