Archives of Current Research International

This study aimed to verify the prevalence of symptoms of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a cross-sectional and observational study. The population consisted of 170 university students from in a brazilian institution. The participants were divided into two groups, the first consisting of students who were undergoing psychological follow-up during the pandemic (G1) and the second, the control group, comprising the students who were not being followed up (G2). The questionnaires of the Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Diagnostic Criteria for TMD were used. Data were expressed as simple frequency and percentage and p<0.05 (5%) was considered statistically significant. The results of the study showed a prevalence of 85.3% of TMD symptoms. Regarding anxiety, no significant association was detected between sex and anxiety(p=0.0640), however, regarding depression, a significant association was noted in G2 between sex and depression, with odds ratio of 1.524 for females and 0 .8266 for males(p=0.0082). The most reported symptom in G1 was jaw pain (63.53%), while in G2 it was headache (56.47%). Comparing the TMD symptoms in both groups, 89.41% of the students who were undergoing psychological follow-up had TMD symptoms, while in the group that was not being followed up, TMD symptoms were present in 81.18% of the participants. Therefore, no significant difference was found between them (p=0.1931). It was found a high prevalence of symptoms of temporomandibular disorder, depression and anxiety in the university students in the study, and the most prevalent symptoms were headache and jaw pain.