A new study evaluates the influence of menopausal symptoms on the intensity of pain induced by temporomandibular disorder throughout the menopause transition
The loss of estrogen during the menopause transition can cause a number of physical changes and health problems, from thinning hair and atrophy of vaginal mucous membranes to hot flashes and an increased risk of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.
A new study suggests it may also increase jaw pain resulting from temporomandibular disorder (TMD). The results of the study are published in Menopause , the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).
An estimated 4.8% of American adults (approximately 12 million people) have had pain in the temporomandibular joint region (near the jaw). Some estimates range as high as 15% of American adults who have had at least one symptom of TMD, which is the second most common musculoskeletal pain (the first being low back pain).
Women are twice as likely as men to develop TMD, which has led to theories that the disorder is influenced by hormonal changes.
To date, there is limited literature on the prevalence of TMD during the menopausal transition, although a 2018 study showed that TMD was more common and severe in premenopausal women than in postmenopausal women. The results were not surprising because there are estrogen and progesterone receptors in the discs of the temporomandibular joint.
In this new study, women were divided into groups according to their stage of menopause (late menopausal transition, early postmenopause, and late postmenopause) to evaluate differences in the intensity of TTM-induced pain. Based on the results, the researchers concluded that TMD-induced pain and menopausal symptoms are mainly correlated in the late menopausal transition.
Both decrease with age and progression through the postmenopausal phases. Furthermore, socioeconomic factors such as education and ethnicity also affect TMD symptoms in women during early postmenopause. These results suggest the value of screening women for TMD as they approach the menopausal transition.
The results of the study are published in the article “Does temporomandibular disorder correlate with menopausal symptoms ?”
“This study reinforces the known relationship between sex steroids, specifically estrogen, and the experience of pain. These results are unique in showing that TMD symptoms are related to menopausal symptoms and manifest differently across the stages of menopause, with more prominent TMD and menopause symptoms occurring in the transition to menopause. menopause compared to the years after menopause. “More studies are needed to identify factors, such as low education, that influence these associations, as well as strategies to mitigate bothersome symptoms of TMD and menopause in midlife women,” says Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director of NAMS.
