Association between Sleep Habits and Painful Temporomandibular Disorders: Case- Control Study

• Grant number: 24/10329-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2025
• End date: January 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry
• Principal Investigator: Giovana Fernandes
• Grantee: Joanna Marcandali Mello
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia (FOAr). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Background: In recent years there has been increased attention in poor sleep habits, since they reflect on poor sleep quality, shorter sleep duration, unrestful sleep sensation, and excessive daytime sleepiness. It is known that patients with painful TMD reported poor sleep quality, awakenings frequently and unrefreshed sleep. However, the specific sleep habits practice by painful TMD patients has not yet been explored. One of the strategies to management inadequate sleep habits, and consequently to improve sleep quality, is sleep hygiene. Therefore, it is necessary to identify which are the harmful sleep habits practiced by painful TMD patients. Them, it could be possible to create a specific and effectiveness sleep hygiene protocol for adjuvant painful TMD treatment.Aim: to investigate the association between painful TMD and sleep habits. Material and Methods: this is a cross-sectional study that will compare individuals with and without painful TMD. The sample will be composed by 60 individuals. The Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders will be used to classify the painful TMD pain. Moreover, the sleep habits (Sleep Habits Index) and Sleep Quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) will be assessment. Furthermore, possible confounder variables as depressive (Patient Health Questionnaire-9) and anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Desorden-7) symptoms also will be assessment. Descriptive analyzes of all data will be performed. Them, univariate and multiple logistic regression models will be performed to study the association between independent variables and painful TMD. From these analyzes the crude and estimated odds ratios (OR) will be estimated, with the respective confidence intervals (95% CI) and a significance level of 5%. The analysis will be performed using SPSS 16.0 for Windows.