SUBJECTS
200 consecutively selected temporomandibular disorder
(TMD) patients referred for treatment to the Department
of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Ankara
University comprised the 3 case groups. The control
group was composed of 50 randomly selected asymptomatic,
normal subjects referred to the same department
for minor dentoalveolar surgery. The 200 case
subjects were divided into 3 groups based on the
diagnostic criteria established by Dworkin and LeResche,
1 as follows: group 1 was composed of 22 subjects
with myofascial pain and dysfunction, group 2 was
composed of 154 subjects with internal derangement of
the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), and group 3 was
composed of 24 subjects with either myalgia or myofascial
pain and dysfunction combined with internal
derangement of the TMJ.
SUSPECTED ETIOLOGY
Cases for this study consisted of subjects with varying
levels of TMD. Controls were randomly selected subjects
in the same age range without a history of TMD
and with no symptoms of TMD. The primary suspected
underlying cause for otologic complaints for this study
is TMD.
DISEASE/CONDITION
The primary condition under study is subjective otologic
complaints. Cases (TMD patients) and controls
(healthy subjects) were questioned about otologic
symptoms, including otalgia, tinnitus, vertigo, and loss
of hearing.
MAIN RESULTS
Based on chi-squared tests of independence, TMD
patients were significantly more likely to report specific
otologic symptoms compared with healthy controls,
although they were not more likely to report loss of
hearing. However, no statistically significant differences
in otologic complaints were found among the 3
subgroups of TMD patients. Compared with healthy
control subjects, TMD subjects were 11.9 times more
likely to report otalgia [95% confidence interval (CI):
4.0–33.1), 2.4 times more likely to report tinnitus (95%
CI: 1.2–4.7), and 3.5 times more likely to report vertigo
(95% CI: 1.5–8.1).
Commentary
CONCLUSIONS
The authors concluded that there were statistically
significant differences in reported otologic complaints
of otalgia, tinnitus, and vertigo among TMD patients
compared with asymptomatic, healthy controls of comparable
age. However, the authors failed to find any
statistically significant differences in otologic complaints
between the 3 subgroups of TMD patients and
concluded that there was no relationship between TMD
subgroups and otologic complaints.
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