Association between orthodontic treatment and the occurrence of temporomandibular disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are related to a series of clinical manifestations that appear in the form of pain. Currently, there is controversy about the appearance of TMDs after orthodontic treatment. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to determine the association between orthodontic treatment and the occurrence of Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD). Material and Methods: A bibliographic search was carried out until April 2022, in the following electronic databases: Pubmed/Medline, Scopus, Scielo, Google Scholar and Web of Science. We included studies that were case-control and cohort studies, dealing with the association between orthodontic treatment and TMD, in English and Spanish, and with no time limit. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to assess risk in the included studies. In addition, RevMan 5.3 was considered for meta-analysis, using as a measure the ODDS ratio in a random-effects model with a 95% confidence interval. Results: The preliminary search yielded a total of 686 articles, discarding those that did not meet the selection criteria, leaving only 6 articles. These studies reported that there is a significant association between orthodontic treatment and the occurrence of TMD, equivalent to an ODDS ratio of 1.84 with a confidence interval of 1.19-2.83. Conclusions: It is concluded that there is an association between orthodontic treatment and the occurrence of TMD, therefore, a person undergoing orthodontic treatment is up to 1.84 times more likely to develop TMD.