Prevalence of Chronic Periodontitis, Bruxism and Temporomandibular Joint Disorders in Patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome

Objective: Chronic periodontitis is a world-wide infectious and inflammatory disease and may have a relationship with other inflammatory diseases such as fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). The aim of this study was to determine whether the prevalence of periodontitis is increased in individuals with FMS or not. Materials and Methods: Sixty-four patients with FMS and 70 systemically healthy individuals were included in the present study. Fibromyalgia patients did not have any other systemically disease. All subjects had at least 20 functioning teeth and underwent detailed oral and radiographic examination, in addition, bruxism and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) examinations were performed. All clinical attachment levels, plaque and gingival indices were recorded. Results: Fibromyalgia patients tend to have higher gingival index scores than healthy individuals. There was a significant difference in the presence of bruxism between the study groups (p<0.05) but not in the presence of TMJ disorders. There was no significant difference regarding to periodontal disease between individuals under age 45 years. The prevalence of periodontitis was increased in healthy group aged above 45 years (p<0.05) but not changed in equivalent FMS patients (p>0.05). Conclusion: We found that the prevalence of periodontitis was not changed in FMS patients but was increased in healthy subjects above age 45.