Associa？？o entre os sintomas da disfun？？o temporo-mandibular com factores psicológicos e altera？？es na coluna cervical em alunos da Escola Superior de Saúde Jean Piaget do Algarve

introduction: the temporomandibular disorder (tmd) affects the tempomandibular joints and stomatognathic apparatus mastication muscles and associated structures. the mastication muscles spasm is the main cause of painful symptoms in tmd; this situation may be induced by deleterious habits, which can be triggered or aggravated by emotional stress. in addition to psychological factors, cervical spine postural alterations may lead to jaw repositioning and structural changes in the whole temporomandibular joint (tmj), causing tmd. national studies on the tmd prevalence and its relation with postural changes and levels of anxiety and depression are unknown. objective: the objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of tmd and its association with psychological factors, particularly anxiety and depression, and also postural changes in the cervical spine, in students from the jean piaget-algarve health school. material and methods: the sample comprised 306 students of physiotherapy, nursing, pharmacy and clinical analysis and public health bscs, from both genders, aged 18 to 43 years. tmd (using fonseca anamnesic questionnaire), anxiety and depression and cervical spine posture were evaluated once during the 2009/2010 academic year. results and discussion: the results indicated a tmd prevalence of 37.3% and 18.3% of anxiety or depression. the postural evaluation showed that 36.6% of students had correct cervical curvature and 19.6% had cervical concavity. no statistically significant relation (p>0.05) was found between the presence of tmd and cervical spine changes. however, the association between tmd and anxiety and depression, showed that from the 114 students (37.3%) who had tmd symptoms, 35 (11.4%) also showed anxiety or depression signs (statistically significant; p<0.05). conclusion: this study showed that the jean piaget-algarve health school students', from various health courses, present a high tmd prevalence, and revealed a significant association