Evaluation of signs and symptoms of temporomandibular dysfunction and its relation to cervical posture

Introduction The temporomandibular disorders (TMD) can cause general changes in mandibular movements due to changes in muscle and joint conditions. Objective To evaluate the signs and symptoms of temporomandibular disorders and its relationship to cervical posture. Material and method Cross-sectional and descriptive study with a quantitative approach conducted at the University of Fortaleza from August 2011 to April 2012, where 23 participants with temporomandibular disorders answered the questionnaire (PorDTMmulti) about the signs and symptoms of the condition and were photographed for measurement of head posture evaluation and cervical lordosis. Result The average age of participants was 34.7 years. The average cervical angle was 29.7 degrees and 3.6 cm of cervical lordosis. Headache (82.6%), muscle pain (78.3%) and noise in the temporomandibular joint (73.9%) were the most commonly reported signs and symptoms by the sample. The ear pain (26.1%) was the least reported symptom. Most participants reported signs and symptoms from both sides. No correlation between the measurement of cervical angle and the sings, symptoms and difficulties surveyed was noted. A moderate correlation between the extent of cervical lordosis and the difficulty in opening the mouth (p=0.03; r= –0.4) was found. Conclusion It was demonstrated that in the study population, among the signs and symptoms of TMD, headache was the most cited, and the greatest difficulty presented by participants about the dysfunction was chewing. It was revealed further correlation between the difficulty opening the mouth and cervical lordosis.