Kiran Fatima Mehboob Ali, Affaf Fatima, Farnaz Ilyas, Muhammad Wasay Ali Khan, Zubair Ahmed Abbassi.
Impact of Anxiety and Depression on Temporomandibular Joint Disorders among Sample of Dental Undergraduates of Karachi.
J Pak Dent Assoc Jan ;25(4):143-9.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the impact of anxiety and depression on clinical features of TMDs among junior and senior years dental undergraduates of two private dental Institutions of Karachi. METHODOLOGY: It was a cross sectional study conducted in two private dental colleges of Karachi from January 2016 to May 2016. Total 295/300 undergraduates completed the questionnaires from junior years and 246/300 undergraduates from senior years of dentistry through convenience sample technique. The required information was gathered through two validated questionnaires (AKUADS and DC/TMDs). Data was entered and analyzed on SPSS version 23. Descriptive analysis and Pearson Chi square test was performed. RESULTS: This study estimated the significant impact of anxiety and depression on TMDs among junior and senior year's dental undergraduates as 282/541 respondents had TMDs and 52.1% prevalence of TMDs was estimated. Students with TMDs (107/140)from junior and (115/142) senior were score more than 19 in AKUADS which was found to be statistically significant among both groups (p value=0.004 and < 0.001) respectively. There was not a significant difference between anxiety and depression and TMDs among male and female respondents. AKUADS was significantly associated with jaw joint noises and history of lock jaw when comparing junior and senior group (jaw joint noises, p value=0.007 and 0.001) and (history of lock jaw, p value= 0.011 and 0.001) respectively. CONCLUSION: It is concluded from this study that there is an association between anxiety and depression and symptoms of TMDs among junior and senior dental undergraduates and they are experiencing approximately similar levels of TMDs features and depression as of the medical undergraduates mostly due to the higher studies burden, stringent criteria of clinical medical education and certainly dearth of the stress management skills. There is a need to reform the dental education system in Pakistan to reduce stress and anxiety among students. KEYWORDS: AKUADS, dental undergraduates, Temporomandibular Joint disorders.

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