However, only in 3.6–7% will this be of sufficient severity to trigger the individual to seek medical advice.For unknown reasons, females are more likely to be affected than males, in a ratio of about 2:1, although others report this ratio to be as high as 9:1. Females are more likely to request treatment for TMD, and their symptoms are less likely to resolve. Females with TMD are more likely to be nulliparous than females without TMD. It has also been reported that female caucasians are more likely to be affected by TMD, and at an earlier age, than female African Americans.According to the most recent analyses of epidemiologic data using the RDC/TMD diagnostic criteria, of all TMD cases, group I (muscle disorders) accounts for 45.3%, group II (disc displacements) 41.1%, and group III (joint disorders) 30.1% (individuals may have diagnoses from more than one group). Using the RDC/TMD criteria, TMD has a prevalence in the general population of 9.7% for group I, 11.4% for group IIa, and 2.6% for group IIIa. History
Temporomandibular disorders were described as early as ancient Egypt. An older name for the condition is "Costens syndrome", eponymously referring to James B. Costen. Costen was an otolaryngologist, and although he was not the first physician to describe TMD, he wrote extensively on the topic, starting in 1934, and was the first to approach the disorder in an integrated and systematic way. Costen hypothesized that malocclusion caused TMD, and placed emphasis on ear symptoms, such as tinnitus, otaglia, impaired hearing, and even dizziness.
Usually people affected by TMD are between 20 and 40 years of age, and it is more common in females than males. TMD is the second most frequent cause of orofacial pain after dental pain (i.e. toothache). Classification
TMD is considered by some to be one of the 4 major symptom complexes in chronic orofacial pain, along with burning mouth syndrome, atypical facial pain and atypical odontalgia. TMD has been considered as a type of musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, or rheumatological disorder. It has also been called a functional pain syndrome, and a psychogenic disorder. Others consider TMD a "central sensitivity syndrome", in reference to evidence that TMD might be caused by a centrally mediated sensitivity to pain. It is hypothesized that there is a great deal of similarity between TMD and other pain syndromes like fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis, headache, chronic lower back pain and chronic neck pain. These disorders have also been theorized to be caused by centrally mediated sensitivity to pain, and furthermore they often occur together. Definitions and terminology
Frequently, TMD has been treated as a single syndrome, but the prevailing modern view is that TMD is a cluster of related disorders with many common features. Indeed, some have suggested that, in the future, the term TMD may be discarded as the different causes are fully identified and separated into different conditions. Sometimes, "temporomandibular joint dysfunction" is described as the most common form of temporomandibular disorder, whereas many other sources use the term temporomandibular disorder synonymously, or instead of the term temporomandibular joint dysfunction.