LAUSR

OBJECTIVES This study investigated the inter-relationship of painful Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) with bodily pain, psychological well-being, and distress in young people from a Confucian-heritage culture (CHC). METHODS Adolescents/young adults were recruited from a local polytechnic in Singapore. While the presence/severity of painful TMDs and bodily pain were established with the DC/TMD TMD Pain Screener (TPS) and Maciel's Pain Inventory, psychological well-being and distress were evaluated with the Scales of Psychological Well-being-18 (SPWB-18) and Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4). Statistical explorations were conducted using Chi-square/Mann-Whitney U tests, Spearman's correlation, and logistic regression analyses (α = 0.05). RESULTS Among the 225 participants (mean age 20.1 ± 3.9 years) examined, 11.6% had painful TMDs and 68.9% experienced multi-site bodily pain. Though painful TMDs were accompanied by a higher occurrence of multi-site bodily pain, the overall/discrete number of bodily pain sites did not differ substantially between the "no TMD pain" (NT) and "with TMD pain" (WT) groups. Besides ear pain, differences in overall/discrete bodily pain scores were also insignificant. However, significant differences in environmental mastery, overall psychological distress, depression, and anxiety subscale scores were discerned between the NT and WT groups. Psychological well-being and distress were moderately and negatively correlated (rs = -0.56). Multivariate analysis indicated that ear pain and psychological distress increased the prospect of painful TMDs CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of multi-site bodily pain was high in young people from CHCs irrespective of the presence of painful TMDs. Enhancing environmental mastery and relieving depression/anxiety may help manage TMD pain.