Figure 4

Relationships between TDC-values and baseline values of intensity of predominant pain from the masticatory system (A) and general Health-related Quality of Life (B). These baseline values are related to the severity of myogenous Temporomandibular Disorders in individual patients; the values of HRQoL in an inversely way. The TDC-values are from the last evaluation visit at LM (last measurement) following treatment and include possibly a separate addition of reference items by clinician and investigator (based on data from assessor) and considering only the added items from the assessor. For TDC = 0, an overall change in signs and symptoms is lacking following treatment and for TDC = −1 all signs and symptoms of myogenous TMD have disappeared. Solid lines, regression lines: TDC = 0.00047.PI – 0.560, in which PI is pain intensity (Pearson’s correlation coefficient: r = 0.031, not significant, n = 118), and TDC = 0.0245.HRQoL-0.564, in which HRQoL is Health-related Quality of Life (r = 0.015, not significant, n = 112, 6 missing values). Similarly, no significant relationships were observed for TDC from the end measurement (EM) following treatment in the short-term and for other modes of addition of items, including no-addition. Note that significant regressions are lacking while the scatter in TDC-values is similar within the range of baseline values, indicating that (i) the TDC-values from individual patients are independent from their baseline values of pain intensity or HRQoL, and (ii) a similar variety of relative change following treatment occurs for the various patients, regardless of the baseline severity of myogenous TMD. The fraction of patients whose TDC-value has dropped to or beyond the cut-off level of −0.379 and thus the chance of attaining functional status, is independent from the patient’s baseline severity level.