NIH Radio
Research study finds risk factors for TMJD
Brief Description:
Preliminary results of a large, seven-year study on a jaw disorder are revealing risk factors for chronic pain.
Transcript:
Balintfy: Thousands of Americans this year will be diagnosed with a common disorder of the jaw area.
Kusiak: There looks to be about maybe 10 million people in the United States that have the disorder.
Balintfy: Dr. John Kusiak, a program director at the NIH says the condition is called temporomandibular joint disorder, or TMJD.
Kusiak: It's a series of complex disorders that affect the jaw, the muscles, the joint, the tissues, and cartilage surrounding the joint. It usually involves pain in that area either upon touching it or with function; that is when you open the jaw you will have pain.
Balintfy: Even the act of smiling, he says, can be painful. Because TMJD is complex, healthcare providers have no way to determine whether patients will get better with little or no treatment, or end up battling chronic TMJD.
Maixner: The condition has been largely unexplored from a mechanistic point of view
Balintfy: Dr. William Maixner is the Director of the Center for Neurosensory Disorders at the University of North Carolina. He's also a principal investigator of an NIH-funded study designed to tease apart the underlying biological, psychological and genetic factors that contribute to both the development of this condition and the persistence of it in the population.
Maixner: I know of no other really large study of this type where we've really done a very detailed assessment of patient populations in clinic and then have followed them longitudinally.
Balintfy: The study, called OPPERA, is a longitudinal study.
Kusiak: That is a study over observing subjects over a long period of time
Balintfy: Again Dr. Kusiak. He says OPPERA is looking for factors that are related to the beginnings or risks of TMJD.
Kusiak: It's important to know that because if you know what the risk factors might be, then there's a much better opportunity to intervene through therapies whether it's pharmacological, behavioral, or other means. It's probably much easier to treat early on rather than later.
Balintfy: Current treatments can include anti-inflammatory drugs, or heat or cold packs. Researchers are also concerned with chronic TMJD that can involve not only pain and poor function but also psychological effects that may lead to depression and anxiety. Dr. Kusiak adds that TMDJ can coexist with other chronic pain conditions.
Kusiak: There are, we believe anyway, a fair number of subjects that not only have just TMJD but also other chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, and it would be really important to try to identify the specific risk factors for those individuals as well.
Balintfy: Dr. Maixner adds there is no single risk factor for TMJD.
Maixner: The notion that we are dealing with just the head and neck oral-facial condition I think now is being laid to rest.
Balintfy: He says it is becoming clearer and clearer through research that TMJD should be looked at with a global view.
Maixner: This is a really a condition associated with a constellation of conditions that impact almost every region of the body in one way or another.
Balintfy: Initial results from the OPPERA study show that in women, the risk for TMJD increases between the ages of 18 and 44; that unlike other chronic pain conditions, TMJD does not appear connected to socio-economic status; and that genetic variability does contribute to chronic TMJD researchers have found that chronic TMJD patients had alterations in several genes, including some known to influence stress response, psychological well-being and inflammation. For more information on the OPPERA study and TMJD, visit www.nidcr.nih.gov. This is Joe Balintfy, at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland.
About This Audio Report
Date: 11/10/2011
Reporter: Joe Balintfy
Sound Bite: Drs. John Kusiak, William Maixner
Topic: temporomandibular joint disorder, TMJD, jaw, pain, jaw pain, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome
Institute(s):
NIDCR
Additional Info: TMJD and Orofacial Pain Program
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