• Wantanee Mutirangura D.D.S., M.S., Th.B.O.
• Sitawan Navasumrit
• Hatairat Purngrat

Objective To study temporomandibular disorders (TMD) patientsû treatment provider seeking
based on symptoms.

Materials and methods Mailed questionnaires were delivered to 301 TMD patients treated at
Department of Occlusion, Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University, from 2004 to 2007.
Data processing was under descriptive statistics and chi-square.

Results Mails with enough information were derived from 151 respondents. They were 32 men
and 119 women with mean age 37.97 years. They presented variety of symptoms, and large amount of
them reported more than one symptom. Most of them were referred or recommended, while 29.8% had
been treated. Approximately 10% of all were referred or recommended from physicians. The patients
selected treatment providers either dentists or physician significantly on types of symptoms (p < 0.05).
They would choose dentists for treating symptoms related to pains/disorders in the oral-jaw such
as jaws-teeth pain during chewing, changes in dental occlusion and limited jaws opening, and
choose physicians for treating other symptoms such as headache and ear ringing.

Conclusion TMD presents various clinical problems. Symptoms show important role in patientsû
treatment provider seeking. The results suggest imparting of patientsû TMD knowledge would be
beneficial.

(CU Dent J. 2011;34:109-116)