Correlation Between Patient Reported Jaw Activities with Self-Reported Pain Ratings and Dentists’ Clinical Findings

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the relationship between the Jaw Functional Limitation Scale (JFLS8) with the orofacial pain instruments of TMD screener, persistent tooth pain (PP) questions as well as dentists’ clinical findings. It is based on pre-existing dataset from the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network. A statistical analysis is performed for 1,306 participants who received root canal treatment. TMD and PP questionnaires are found to be moderately correlated (ρ=0.47) with JFLS8 using Spearman’s correlation analysis. On the other hand, the dentists’ clinical examination for tenderness to palpation, percussion, and biting did not correspond with JFLS8 (ρ=0.07, ρ=0.19, and ρ=0.23 respectively). Additionally, the JFLS8 is neither sensitive nor specific enough to clinically determine the presence of TMD or PP (AUC=0.72 and AUC=0.64 respectively). The JFLS8 correlates with TMD screener and PP questionnaire. Clinical endodontic examination, on the other hand, does not correlate with jaw functional limitations.