www.journalomp.org pISSN 2288-9272 eISSN 2383-8493 J Oral Med Pain 2015;40(1):17-27 http://dx.doi.org/10.14476/jomp.2015.40.1.17 Association between Temporomandibular Disorders and Occupations by Korean Standard Classification of Occupations Ji-Su Kim 1 , Young-Ae Kim 1 , Jun-Young Heo 1 , Soo-Min Ok 1 , Kyung-Hee Kim 2 , Yong-Woo Ahn 1 , Sung-Hee Jeong 1 1 Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Yangsan, Korea 2 Department of Oral Medicine, Inje University Busan Paik Hospital, Busan, Korea Received January 9, 2015 Revised January 19, 2015 Accepted January 26, 2015 Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate occupational distribution of temporo- mandibular disorders (TMD) patients and their diagnosis according to occupations and to evaluate the relationship between TMD and occupations. Work-related factors which might ag- gravate TMD symptoms were also evaluated. Methods: We investigated 316 TMD patients, aged from 13 to 65 years old, who had visited the Department of Oral Medicine in Pusan National University Dental Hospital. The subjects who have a job were assessed using TMD analysis examination and occupation questionnaire. The level of significance was p-value<0.05. Result: This study presented that the diagnoses according to occupations were not significant, but work-related factors such as verbal work and poor posture were related with TMD symp- toms. Conclusions: Proper education is essential to prevent aggravation of TMD symptoms because TMD symptoms were more related to work environment than a specific occupation. Key Words: Occupations; Questionnaires; Temporomandibular joint disorders Correspondence to: Sung-Hee Jeong Department of Oral Medicine, Dental Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, 49, Busandaehak-ro, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan 626-870, Korea Tel: +82-55-360-5230 Fax: +82-55-360-5234 E-mail: drcookie@pusan.ac.kr This work was supported by a 2-Year Research Grant of Pusan National University. prevalent among office workers than in the general popula- tion, which revealed the association of office workers with TMD symptoms. 8) In laborers exposed to an environment of repeated movements for a long time, inappropriate posture, excessive force, insufficient rest, etc., microtrauma may ac- cumulate resulting in musculoskeletal disorders. 9) Therefore, the association of TMD, 1-2) the representative disease in oro- facial area, with the patient’s occupation must be evalu- ated. In several studies, the association of specific occupa- tions (musicians, office workers, etc.) with TMD symptoms has been shown, and the possibility that a special working environment, such as using computer for a long time, will aggravate TMD symptoms has been discussed. 10-12) However, studies on the association of general occupations with TMD are still insufficient. Thus, in this study, the association of INTRODUCTION Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) is a musculoskel- etal disease with pain in the masticatory muscle and the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), clicking, immobility, etc. 1,2) TMD is highly prevalent in the general Korean population. 3) It has been reported that 1%-75% of Koreans have shown more than one objective TMD sign, and 5%-33% have re- ported subjective symptoms. 4,5) TMD is caused by various complex causes. Its major causes are occlusal condition, trauma, emotional stress, deep pain input, parafunctional activity, etc. 6) Previous investigators have examined the prevalence of musculoskeletal diseases among office workers. 7) In addi- tion, in 2008 in Japan, it was reported that TMD was more Original Article JOMP Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain Copyright Ⓒ 2015 Korean Academy of Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine. All rights reserved. CC This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.