Relationship between severe tooth wear and temporomandibular disorders: a cross-sectional study using propensity score matching analysis

The relationship between severe tooth wear and temporomandibular disorders (TMD) remains unclear in literature. The objective of this study was to retrospectively investigate the relationship between severe tooth wear and TMD by using the method of propensity score matching (PSM). 1911 TMD patients were enrolled in the study. After tooth wear index (TWI) assessment screening, 1557 TMD patients were divided into the severe tooth wear group (case group) and the mild tooth wear group (control group). Then propensity score-matching (PSM), Chi-square tests and logistic regression were used to compare the prevalence of TMD symptoms between the cases and matched controls. In 1911 TMD patients, only 81 patients (4.24%) suffered from severe tooth wear. After PSM (74 cases vs. 141 controls), the prevalence of pain (P = 0.307), joint noise (P = 0.515), restricted mouth opening (P = 0.791) and condylar bony degeneration (P = 0.747), was not different significantly between the severe tooth wear group and the mild tooth wear group. Logistic regression analysis showed that older age (OR = 1.046, P = 0.001) may be the risk factors for TMJ condylar bony degeneration in TMD patients, but severe tooth wear (OR = 0.822, P = 0.525), sex (OR = 1.912, P = 0.061), and disease duration (OR = 1.001, P = 0.804) showed no significantly higher risk of it. In this clinical cohort, the observed prevalence of severe tooth wear among TMD patients was only 4.24%. Within this TMD cohort, severe tooth wear was not significantly associated with TMD symptoms or TMJ condylar bony degeneration.