Anxiety, symptoms of temporomandibular disorders (TMD), and awake bruxism in children: an observational study

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association among anxiety, symptoms of temporomandibular disorders, and awake bruxism in children. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out with 274 children aged between 7 and 12 years. Data were collected through structured questionnaires, applied by interview and clinical assessment. Statistical analysis involved descriptive and inferential analysis using the Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test. A binary logistic regression model was applied to identify independent predictors of anxiety. RESULTS: Age ranged from 7 to 12 years and was equally distributed between the sexes. 23.3% of the sample presented anxiety; 4.3% presented TMD symptoms; 18.2% presented bruxism. Anxiety was associated with sex (p = 0.005), TMD symptoms (p = 0.008), and tooth wear (p = 0.005). In the logistic regression model, tooth wear, TMD symptoms, and male sex remained independent predictors of anxiety, whereas awake bruxism and age were not. The model explained a limited proportion of the variance in anxiety. CONCLUSION: Anxiety was observed in nearly one-quarter of the study sample and was associated with sex, TMD symptoms, and tooth wear. Awake bruxism, however, was not an independent predictor of anxiety. Given the cross-sectional design and the limited variance, these findings should be interpreted as exploratory and do not support causal inferences.