A critical review on the importance of psychological factors in temporomandibular disorders

Recent researches on temporomandibular disorders (TMD) have been focused on the
interaction between physical and psychological factors. In this work, studies on
the role of the latter have been critically reviewed and analysed. A number of
works proved the existence of an association between TMD and anxiety, depression
and stress, but none demonstrated causality of that relation. In consideration of
that, debates are still open to discuss the possible predisposing, triggering
and/or worsening role played by some psychic disorders in TMD subjects.
Nevertheless, considering the usefulness of recent taxonomic proposals, it seems
logical to adopt a broad therapeutic approach, directed both to the physical and
psychic component of TMD symptoms. Besides, from this review it is underlined the
need for controlled trials which, regardless of the causality of TMD-psychic
disorders associations, definitively evaluate the efficacy of the various
psychotherapy modalities proposed.