Dr. Adams' Alabama Headache Blog

Many TMD patients experience a variety of non-specific symptoms in addition to pain and mandibular dysfunction. To study the prevalence of multiple somatic complaints in patients with TMD and study its relationship to SCL-90 depression scores, three measures of multiple somatic symptoms were selected. Using cut-off points from the Research Diagnostic Criteria Report, above average values were determined for 1)the somatization scale (SOMA) and 2) the somatization scale with only non-pain items (SOMANP). In addition, a scale measuring multiple pain sites (MULPAIN) was used. 46 records were selected at random from the patient population of the Gelp Craniomandibular/Orofacial Pain Center and analyzed. 56.5% of the patients exhibited above average values for SOMA, 30.4% for SOMANP and 37% of the patients had 2 or more pain on MULPAIN. Scores on the Depression Scale were significantly correlated to SOMA, SOMANP,and MULPAIN. After controlling for possible confounding effects of age, sex, intial pain level, duration of the problem, diagnosis of cervical condition and history of whiplash or trauma by multiple regression analysis, the positive correlation with depression scores remained significant for the SOMA and SOMANP but not for MULPAIN. The results indicate that approximately one third of TMD patients reported non-pain symptoms and multiple pain sites. Non-pain symptoms (SOMANP) were found to be as strongly correlated to depression as a mixture of pain and non-pain symptoms (SOMA).