Creating a Quality of Life Index for Patients with Temporomandibular Disorders

Objective: To create a new quality of life (QOL) questionnaire specifically for temporomandibular disorder (TMD) patients. Materials and Methods: From April 2016 to March 2017, individuals undergoing initial examinations or treatment for TMD at our dental hospital (i.e., patient group) and individuals with no diagnosis or subjective symptoms of TMD (i.e., control group) completed self-assessed questionnaires (ethical approval no. 1285). We compared intergroup differences in the mean scores, and ranked questions by the size of the difference. We then created a novel 16-item questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha was 0.950. Correlation of the total scores of the questionnaire with the numerical rating scale (NRS; to assess pain) and with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; to assess TMD-related psychosocial and functional disturbances) was evaluated using correlation coefficients. Results: Participants were ≥ 20 years old. The patient group and control group comprised 103 participants and 173 participants, respectively. In both groups, the correlation coefficients for the questionnaire's total scores with the NRS (0.6-0.8) and with the HADS showed moderate or higher correlations. Conclusions: The questionnaire strongly correlated with the patients' pain intensity and subjective level of disturbance and may be used as an index for TMD patients' QOL level or therapeutic effect.