Prevalence of myofascial pain in students of selected secondary schools in Baghdad City

Abstract EN

Background : Myofascial face pain (MFP) is painful disorder of masticatory muscles thought to be the most common type of temporomandibular disorder (TMD).This study was done to evaluate the prevalence of MFP in students of secondary schools of Baghdad city.

Materials and methods : The sample comprised 242 females' students and 222 males' students of secondary schools, aged 17-18 years.

The MFP evaluated according to the specific screening questionnaire of research diagnostic criteria of temporomandibular disorders (RDC / TMD) axis I with clinical examination.

Results : The study revealed that (50.8 %) of the students had history of pain where females reported higher percentage than males with statistical significant difference.

The history of pain in muscles of mastication was higher than joint pain in both genders.

After clinical examination this study also showed that (25.4 %) of students with history of pain had MFP.

The differences between both genders regarding the diagnosis of MFP were higher in females than males but statistically not significant.

Conclusion : High percentage of students reported a history of pain which could be attributed to MFP in (25.4 %) of the students.

The prevalence of pain history and MFP was higher in females’ than males.