Evaluation of the Prevalence of Temporomandibular Joint Involvement in Rheumatoid Arthritis Using Research Diagnostic Criteria For Temporomandibular Disorders

Objectives: temporomandibular joint (tmj) disorders, known as tmds, are significant public health problems and may result in pain and disability. in order to determine the prevalence of clinical/subjective tmd in rheumatoid arthritis (ra), we used the research diagnostic criteria (rdc)/tmd axes. we assessed the anti-cyclic citrullinated protein (anti-ccp)-related tmd in ra for the first time. materials and methods: fifty-two ra patients were compared to 47 healthy controls with regard to complete blood count (cbc), serology, acute phase reactants (apr), and tmj dysfunction. results: the anti-ccp antibody showed a significant correlation with the development of clinical tmd (p=0.001, 95% confidence interval (ci)=12.4%-35.6%). a prevalence of 50% was calculated through the rdc/tmd for such disorders. in ra patients, statistically significant differences were observed between the groups with and without clinical tmd regarding psychological depression and physical symptoms. conclusions: according to the results, a significant correlation was found between the anti-ccp antibody and tmd. therefore, when this antibody is detected in the blood serum, the treatment must be initiated. the rdc/tmd used in this study assessed the prevalence of tmj dysfunction in conformity with ra-associated tmj findings previously obtained through other conventional methods.