Prevalence of temporomandibular disorders among undergraduate dental students in a dental hospital at pondicherry - a cross sectional study

Aim: The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of symptomatic and asymptomatic cases of Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD) among undergraduate dental Students in a dental college at Pondicherry.
Materials & Method: Undergraduate Students of Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences, Pondicherry from first year to interns were included as subjects for complete TMJ examination. The symptoms were assessed using TMJ symptom intensity scale.
Results: The study comprised of 83 male and 306 female subjects (n = 389). Of these, 21.68% of male and 47.71% of female had symptomatic TMD. The common symptoms observed were headache (25.7%), followed by clicking joint sound (13.1%) and jaw pain (8.9%). TMD symptoms were found to be higher among the first year students whereas Interns had the lowest prevalence of TMD.
Conclusion: The higher prevalence of TMD among the first year students can be attributed to the difficulty experienced by them to cope up with the stress of the professional course initially and being parted from the family. This article stresses the need for early diagnosis and prompt intervention for TMD among dental students.