General Health Quality of Life in Patients with Temporomandibular Disorders in a Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study in Southern Brazil.

Objective: To assess the impact of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) on general health quality of life in a Brazilian population-based cross-sectional survey.

Methods: A total of 1,643 patients were assessed using the World Health Organization Quality of Life Bref (WHOQOL-Bref) and the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders Axes I and II (RDC/TMD). Cross-tabulation of the data was carried out to compare TMD subjects to controls in all domains of the WHOQOL-Bref and the RDC/TMD.

Results: TMD subjects had significantly worse quality of life than controls in Axes I and II of the RDC/TMD and in all WHOQOL-Bref domains except for disc displacement. Osteoarthrosis was significantly different only in the WHOQOL-Bref physical domain.

Conclusions: TMD subjects had worse general health quality of life, particularly in Axis I groups with higher pain/disability levels (muscle disorders/arthralgia/arthritis).