RESEARCH ARTICLE
Evaluation of the Relationship between Trait and State Anxiety and Temporomandibular Dysfunction
Livio Portela de Deus Lages1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2020Volume: 14
First Page: 737
Last Page: 742
Publisher ID: TODENTJ-14-737
DOI: 10.2174/1874210602014010737
Article History:
Received Date: 29/06/2020Revision Received Date: 31/10/2020
Acceptance Date: 23/11/2020
Electronic publication date: 31/12/2020
Collection year: 2020

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Anxiety is an important factor in the process of chronic pain in patients with Temporomandibular Dysfunction (TMD).
Objective:
The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of minimally invasive management of muscular TMD on the levels of anxiety (state and trait), pain, and other parameters in patients with muscular TMD.
Methods:
A total of 83 patients (64 women and 19 men; mean age, 25.16 ± 4.40 years) who were clinically diagnosed with TMD were evaluated. During the first clinical session (T1) and after clinical evaluation and diagnosis, the participants filled out a pain visual analog scale and answered the Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) and State Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S). In addition, the bite strength of the participants was evaluated, and minimally invasive management (thermotherapy, orientation exercises, and cognitive behavioral therapy) was initiated in that session. After 8 weeks (T2), all parameters were reevaluated. The results obtained were statistically analyzed and found to have a significance level of 5%.
Results:
A significant decrease in pain, STAI-T, and STAI-S scales were observed from T1 to T2 (p < 0.0001). Higher values of bite strength were observed at T2 compared to T1 (p < 0.0001). Furthermore, a significant correlation was observed between the levels of pain, trait-anxiety, and state-anxiety.
Conclusion:
Minimally invasive management of TMD resulted in a reduction in the levels of pain and anxiety (trait and state) of the participants evaluated, suggesting a possible association of these factors with chronic myofascial pain.