Investigation of The Relationships Between Temporomandibular Disorder, Parafunctional Oral Behaviors, Trait Anxiety, and Quality of Life in Students of The Faculty of Health Sciences

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and the associations between TMD, parafunctional oral behaviors (POBs), trait anxiety, and quality of life in undergraduate students in the health sciences. 720 university students participated in the study. A two-part online survey prepared by the researchers was sent to the students via e-mail. The first part of the questionnaire consisted of items regarding gender, age, undergraduate level, department of education, and awareness of TMD and POBs. The second part included the Oral Behaviors Checklist (OBC), assessing the frequency of POBs; the Fonseca Anamnestic Index (FAI), detecting the severity and presence of TMD; the Trait Anxiety part of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Trait Anxiety), assessing trait anxiety level; and the Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14), assessing quality of life. The prevalence of TMD in all students was 68.2%, with mild (25%) and moderate (25%) TMD being more common than severe TMD (18.2%). As the undergraduate level of education increased, the severity and prevalence of TMD, the frequency of POBs, and the trait anxiety level increased, and quality of life decreased (p0.80, p