Evaluation of the Prevalence of Temporomandibular Joint Disorder and Bruxism in Individuals with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the possible association between obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and bruxism. Materials-Methods: This study was performed in a group patients with and without OSAS suffering from myofacial pain. All patients were evaluated for TMD with Fonseca Anamnestic Index. The diagnosis of bruxism was made by clinical examination of all patients and in accordance with their anamnesis. Statistical analyses were performed with IBM SPSS statistics (24.0 Version; SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL).The level of significance was set at p<0.05. Descriptive data were calculated for all variables. Chi square test was used to compare categorical variables. Results: There were a total of 54 patients suffering from myofacial pain and 28 (51.9%) of the patients were also associated with OSAS. It was observed that the prevalence of bruxism in individuals with OSAS (82%) was significantly higher than individuals without OSAS (15.4%) (p <0.001). Moderate or severe TMD incidence in non-OSAS cases was 15.4%, and all of the cases with OSAS had moderate or severe TMD, and this difference between groups was statistically significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: As a result of this study, it was seen that there is a strong relationship between OSAS and TMD and bruxism. Although the cause and effect relationship between OSAS and TMD or bruxism has not been proven, in the literature there is a considerably high prevalence for the correlation of these disorders. Additional studies are required in the future, using objective methods and analyzing more patient groups.