Relationship between pain severity, satisfaction with life and the quality of sleep in Polish adults with temporomandibular disorders

Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) pose a serious health problem that can have a negative effect on patients' lives, impair work performance, and result in work absences and restrictions in daily activities. The aim of this observational, cross-sectional study was to evaluate the level of satisfaction with life among Polish patients with TMD and to assess the influence of pain severity on this parameter. A secondary goal was to investigate sleep quality within this patient group and explore its relationship with pain. A total of 219 patients from the Outpatient Clinic for Temporomandibular Disorders at the University Dental Polyclinic in Wroclaw, Poland, participated in this study. These individuals underwent a clinical examination using the Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (DC/TMD) protocol and completed 2 validated questionnaires, namely the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Furthermore, the patients were assessed for the severity of masseter muscle pain (MMP) and temporal muscle pain (TMP), and the average pain in these muscles (AMP) was calculated. Subsequently, a statistical analysis was performed on the collected data. The group of patients with average satisfaction with life exhibited significantly higher levels of MMP (p = 0.025) and AMP (p = 0.044) as compared to the high-satisfaction group. Regarding sleep quality, 50.23% of the patients experienced poor sleep quality. Poor sleep quality was found to be statistically associated with higher levels of TMP (p = 0.032) and AMP (p = 0.028). Moreover, women demonstrated significantly worse sleep quality as compared to men (p = 0.002). The findings indicate that PSQI has a greater impact on SWLS than vice versa. Due to a large number of TMD patients experiencing poor sleep quality and the associated reduced life satisfaction, these parameters should be considered as influential factors that modify the management of patients with TMD.