Is there an association between anxiety/ depression and temporomandibular disorders in college students?

Objective: considering the high incidence of temporomandibular disorders (tmd) in the population aged 15-30 years and the fact that students are exposed to stressful psychosocial factors,the purposes of this study were: to verify clinical symptoms and jaw functionality in college students with tmd according to the anxiety/depression (a/d) level and to evaluate the correlation between a/d and functionality,maximum mouth opening (mmo) and pain and muscle activity. material and methods: nineteen students with tmd diagnosed according to the research diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders underwent two assessments during an academic semester. the evaluations were based on questionnaires (mfiq - mandibular function impairment questionnaire; hads - hospital anxiety and depression scale),clinical measurements (mmo without pain,mmo and assisted mmo; palpation of joint and masticatory muscles),and electromyography. the hads scores obtained in the two assessments were used to classify all data as either high or low a/d. data normality,differences and correlations were tested with the shapiro-wilk test,student's t-test (or the wilcoxon test),and spearman test,respectively. the alpha level was set at 0.05. results: none of the clinical variables were significantly different when comparing low and high a/d data. in low a/d there was a significant correlation between hads score and: mfiq (p=0.005,r=0.61),and mmo without pain (p=0.01,r=-0.55). conclusions: variation in a/d level did not change clinical symptoms or jaw functionality in college students with tmd. apparently,there is a correlation between tmj functionality and a/d level,which should be further investigated,taking into account the source of the tmd and including subjects with greater functional limitation.