Background: This cross-sectional study analyzed patients with temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) through the Research Diagnostic Criteria Axis II and compared the outcomes in patient groups separated according to the Okeson Classification.
Materials and methods: The study included 270 TMD patients (212 female, 58 male) admitted to the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery clinic at Ankara University. Following the Okeson classification, patients separated into four groups of osteoarthritis, internal derangement, myofascial pain, and local myalgia were evaluated with RDC/TMD Axis II form and also questioned about the usage of antidepressants and smoking habits. SPSS version 20 (IBM, Chicago, IL, USA) was employed for statistical analyses.
Results: While patients with myofascial pain had the highest rates of depression, somatization, usage of antidepressants, graded chronic pain, patients with internal derangement had the lowest rates of depression, somatization, and graded pain. Rates of smoking did not differ between the patient groups.
Conclusions: Delineating the features of TMD patients by RDC/TMD Axis II in subgroups according to Okeson classification would improve understanding of the divergent pathogenesis of TMD and lead to optimizing future treatments.
Keywords: Okeson classification; Research diagnostic criteria; Temporomandibular joint disorders.
© 2025. The Author(s).