Relationship Between Chronic Pain and Sleep Quality in Patients with Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction

Objective: Craniofacial pain and sleep are interrelated: Pain can cause sleep problems, and sleep problems can worsen pain. This study aimed to establish the relationship between chronic pain and sleep quality among patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in patients with TMDs who sought care at the oral and maxillofacial surgery clinic of a faculty of dentistry. This study included a total of 337 patients diagnosed with TMD according to the Research diagnostic criteria for TMDs. TMD pain was evaluated using the graded chronic pain scale, and their sleep quality was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality index (PSQI). Results: The mean PQQI index score of all participants was 6.54. No significant difference was found between the PSQI scores in terms of sociodemographic variables. The sleep quality of the participants varied significantly according to the pain levels. This difference was observed both in total sleep quality scores and in each of the seven components of sleep quality (p<0.001 and p<0.005, respectively). In this study, sleep disturbance components with the highest scores were ``sleep disturbances (1.5 +/- 0.65)'', ``sleep latency (1.42 +/- 0.86)'' and ``subjective sleep quality (1.21 +/- 0.68)''. Conclusion: The findings of this study reveal that the quality of sleep decreased as the level of pain increased, that is, PSQI scores and all subcomponent scores are also increased. These findings indicate that physicians treating patients with TMD pain should investigate their quality of sleep.