Prevalence of myofacial pain dysfunction syndrome in dental students of international campus of tehran university of medical sciences

Among oral and maxillofacial pains, masticatory muscle pain is the second most common complaint of patients after toothache, which affects a significant proportion of people. This disorder is caused by various physiological and psychological causes, such as stress and anxiety. In the meantime, the stressful carriers such as dentistry are exposed to the side effects of these pressures more than other groups in the society due to the pressure and stress which exist invariably and naturally in these jobs. The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of myofacial pain dysfunction syndrome (MPDS) in dental students and also study the relationship of the disease with mental-psychological disorders such as stress, anxiety and other effective factors.
This descriptive-cross sectional study, was conducted on students in Tehran International College of Dentistry, between years third to sixth, whom were selected randomly. For each student an information questionnaire consisted of two Background and Clinical examination parts, was filled out and analyzed regarding clinical examinations and the presence or absence of pain syndrome caused by the mastication muscles dysfunction. Subsequently, the data and information related to the variables were analyzed, using SPSS 20 statistical software and descriptive statistical tests and Fisher’s exact test.
In this study 48 students were examined. The most common symptoms were Clenching with the prevalence of 79.2%, and then was the joint sound of “click” type with a prevalence of 77.1%. Furthermore there was a significant relationship between depression and anxiety and masticatory muscle pain level. In the group of patients who were suffering from depression and anxiety, 66.7% of subjects felt pain in masticatory muscles, while in the non-depressed group, the rate was 23.8 percent. According to this finding, difference in pain between the two groups would be significant (p=0.004). This suggests that depression can be effective on muscle pain rate. Based on the results of this study, the incidence of myofacial pain dysfunction syndrome in women, is 55.3%, while the rate for men is 20%, which demonstrates that myofacial pain dysfunction in women is more frequent than men.
Considering the high prevalence of myofacial pain dysfunction syndrome among dental students and its relationship with depression and anxiety, it could be recommended to students to perform further checkups and prevent from joint and muscle pain problems in case of feeling the symptoms.