Temporomandibular disorders among schizophrenic patients. A case-control study.

UNLABELLED The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of temporomandibular disorders (tmd) in schizophrenic patients compared with control patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS 50 schizophrenic patients attended in the Psychiatric Unit at the Virgen Macarena Universitary Hospital of Seville were compared with 50 control patients (without systemic diseases, and drugs) attended in the School of Dentistry of Seville. TMD were assessed according to the WHO criteria. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 32% of schizophrenic patients showed symptoms of TMD, clicking (24%) and self-correcting blocking (8%); compared with 8% (sounds) of control patients. Significantly, these differences support that TMD are most prevalent in patients with mental disorders. Prevalence of TMD are not related with age of patients.TMD are more frequent among male patients in both groups. There are not relationship between TMD and prosthodontic status. Clinical findings of this study showed a significantly tendency between TMD with a highest number of missing teeth in control patients. CONCLUSIONS Schizophrenic patients constitute a high risk population for TMD because showed a more prevalence and severity of TMD .