Primary headaches prevalence and its association with orofacial pain in chronic temporomandibular disorder patients

Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) is a collective term that encloses clinical problems involving masticatory muscles, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and associated structures. Headache (HA) is a common symptom related to TMD. However, the association between both conditions still remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of primary HA and its association with the orofacial pain in patients who seek for TMD treatment at Araraquara Dental School (São Paulo State University, Brazil). The sample was composed by 158 TMD patients selected consecutively. TMD and HA were evaluated respectively by Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) and a HA questionnaire based on the International Classification for Headache Disorders – (ICHD-2), created by specialists School of Medicine at Ribeirão Preto (University of São Paulo, Brazil). The results demonstrated that: most patients were women (84.2%); the frequency of both - muscular and joint - TMD diagnoses was higher for women, whereas the frequency of joint TMD diagnoses was higher for men (p=0.009); there was not statistically significant association between TMD diagnoses and patients’ age (p=0.177); HA prevalence was higher for migraine (53.2%), followed by tension type headache (29.1%), no HA (13.9%) and others HA (3.8%); HA presence and subsequent diagnoses were not associated with gender (p=0.139; p=0.177); age (p=0.897; p=0.564); nor influenced by TMD pain chronicity (p=0.115; p=0.126). It was verified a possible association between primary HA and TMD, especially for migraine.