Pain
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study Controlled Clinical Trial
Reliability of clinical temporomandibular disorder diagnoses.
Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) diagnoses can be viewed as the most useful clinical summary for classifying subtypes of TMD. The Research Diagnostic Criteria for TMD (RDC/TMD) is the most widely used TMD diagnostic system for conducting clinical research. It has been translated into 18 languages and is used by a consortium of 45 RDC/TMD-based international researchers. ⋯ The reliability of diagnostic classification improved when diagnoses were grouped into pain versus non-pain diagnoses (ICC=0.72) and for detecting any diagnosis versus no diagnosis (ICC=0.78). In clinical decision-making and research, arriving at a reliable diagnosis is critical in establishing a clinical condition and a rational approach to treatment. The RDC/TMD demonstrates sufficiently high reliability for the most common TMD diagnoses, supporting its use in clinical research and decision making.