RFO, Passo Fundo, v. 23, n. 1, p. 24-30, jan./abr. 2018 24 Objective: to assess the characteristics associated with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and their impact on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of ins- titutionalized elderly people. Subjects and method: it was a cross-sectional study performed in 30 private ins- titutions for the elderly. The data collected included the TMD questionnaire and clinical evaluation assessed by the Research Diagnostic Criteria/Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD), as well as the OHIP-49 ques- tionnaire for OHRQoL. Results: twenty-four institutions accepted to participate in the study (n = 375 with 133 fit for answering both questionnaires). Considering the characteristics, tinnitus was the most frequent symptom reported, while 98.5% of the research participants did not present myofascial pain. Disc displacement was observed in 26.3%, while 93% of individuals did not present chronic pain. Severe depression was found in 23.3% of the elderly with 24.1% presenting modera- te levels of non-specific physical symptoms, including pain. Poisson regression analysis showed that the cha- racteristics reported were associated with a negative impact on OHRQoL. Conclusion: the domain-specific analysis showed that all domains were affected negati- vely by TMD characteristics and higher levels of depres- sion are associated with a negative impact on OHRQoL. Keywords: Elderly people. Oral health-related quality of life. Temporomandibular disorders. Facial pain. De- pression. Impact of temporomandibular disorders on oral health-related quality of life of institutionalized elderly people Impacto da disfunção temporomandibular na qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde bucal em idosos institucionalizados Victório Poletto Neto * Gabriela Lamas Lamas ** Mauro Elias Mesko *** Fernanda Valentini Mioso **** Marcos Britto Corrêa ***** Tatiana Pereira-Cenci ****** * DDs, MsC, Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. ** DDs, Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. *** DDs, PhD, Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. **** DDs, PhD, Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. ***** DDs, PhD, Adjunct Professor, Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. ****** DDs, PhD, Adjunct Professor, Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. http://dx.doi.org/10.5335/rfo.v23i1.8499 Introduction Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) consists of a series of conditions that affect the orofacial joint and muscles, leading to mandibular movement res- triction, loss of masticatory efficiency, pain or ten- derness, pain during mandibular movement, facial pain, headache, and joint sounds, the latter being the most frequent 1 . Associated with malocclusion and parafunctions, these symptoms may lead to microtraumas in the temporomandibular joint and further deterioration of condyle and articular disc. Studies on the risk factors for the development of TMD indicate biopsychological aspects as the key to TMD and highlight some factors as sleep distur- bances, poor oral hygiene, accumulation of comorbi- dities, oral parafunction, and even genetic markers for the development of clinical TMD 2 . The TMD af- fects psychological conditions and masticatory abi- lity, influencing the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of individuals 3 . Subjective indicators used for general and oral health showed that TMD plays an important role on the quality of life and, despite the numerous methods used to assess OHR- QoL and TMD 4-6 , the assessment of elderly subjects is rare.