The Relationship between Signs and Symptoms of Tempromandibular Joint Disorders (TMDs) and Primary Headache

The aims of this study are to investigate the relationship of the concurrent signs and symptoms of a painful TMD with primary headache (migraine and tension type headache) and whether tenderness and provocation of the masticatory system resulted in the headache. Methods and materials : The sample consists of 120 patients which were diagnosed as having temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) included Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC). The sample age range was between (18-50 years) . All patients oriented to com- plete the Research Diagnostic Criteria RDC\TMD .The questionnaire for TMD index was also applied to all patients to measure the severity of TMD . Then all patients were subjected to clinical examination (examination of masticatory muscles, joint palpation and deviation, clicking and limitation in mouth opening). Primary Headaches were assessed using a validated structured questionnaire captured information on distinguishing headache features and parallels the International Classification for Headache Disorders-II. Results : females were shown high prevalence of TMDs and headache more than male. The presence of the masticatory muscles pain, joint pain, limitation in mouth opening, clicking and bruxism as well as headache pain intensity and duration, increased to a relevant and statistically significant degree in both migraine and tension type headache patients in compare to other patients had no headache or patients with headache from TMDs. Conclusions: High prevalence of TMD in females and also females represent a majority of headache patients. Clinical pain charac- teristics and masticatory muscle tenderness of TMD are greater in patients with primary headache.