To Örebro University

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of three troublesome temporomandibular disorder (TMD) symptoms and awareness of bruxism in two cohorts of subjects aged 65 and 75 years.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies have demonstrated varying prevalence of TMD symptoms. The results concerning elderly people are inconclusive.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: In 2007 identical questionnaires were sent to all subjects born in 1942 and 1932 living in two Swedish counties. The response rate was 73.1% for the 65- and 71.9% for the 75-year-old subjects, totally 9093 subjects.

RESULTS: The great majority reported no or only a few TMD problems. Less than 4% considered their TMD symptoms to be rather great or severe. The mean prevalence of TMD-related symptoms and bruxism was greater in women than in men in both age groups. The 75-year-old women reported a marked lower prevalence of TMD symptoms and bruxism than the 65-year-old women, whereas the age differences were small among the men. Self-reported bruxism was associated with a higher prevalence of TMD symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: The great majority of the subjects did not report any troublesome TMD related symptoms. However, 5.4% of the 65-year-old women and 3.8% of the 75-year-old women considered their symptoms severe or rather severe.