OBJECTIVETo investigate the pain features of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) by qualitatively and quantitatively analyzing patient multi-dimension sensations.

METHODSTwo hundred and fifty patients with painful TMD from January to December 2005 were included, short-form mcgill pain questionnaire (SF-MPQ) and visual analog scale (VAS) were administered to assess patients' sensation, affection and intensity of pain. The data were analyzed by SAS 8.0 software.

RESULTSAll patients were assigned to three groups including 139 joint pain, 47 muscle pain and 64 both joint and muscle pain group. In joint pain group, the total number of descriptors was 250, 1.80 in average; in muscle pain group, the total number was 99, 2.11 in average; in both joint and muscle pain group, the total number was 107, 1.64 in average. The sensitive descriptors most frequently chosen in all three groups were "aching", "heavy", and "tender". "Tiring-exhausting" and "sickening" were high frequency descriptors in affective items. There were higher affective scores in the muscle pain group than in others. Muscle pain group had a higher VAS score at rest than the other two (P < 0.05), but had a lower VAS score during function than the other two (P < 0.001). All three groups usually had no pain at rest, and complained a slight to moderate pain during function.

CONCLUSIONSTMD pain was generally slight to moderate; "aching", "heavy", and "tender" were the most frequently sensitive descriptors, while unpleasant feelings were described as "tiring-exhausting" and "sickening"; pain generally occurred or exacerbated during mandibular function; compared to joint pain, muscle pain had its own features.