Authors:
J.J.W. Huddleston Slater, J.J.R. Huddleston Slater, M. Naeije
Source:
NTvT january 2006; 113: 010 - 13
Section:
summary:
In the eighth decade of the last century, about 3.5% of Dutch men and about
6% of Dutch women reported temporomandibular disorders. In 5% of the
Dutch population temporomandibular disorders were diagnosed. It is
unknown how many persons are seeking treatment for temporomandibular
complaints. The aim of the present study was determining for how many
persons and at which age of these persons treatments of temporomandibular
disorders in general practices were reimbursed by an insurance company. On
the basis of the yearly number of reimbursements by this insurance company,
the yearly number of treatments of the Dutch population as a whole was
estimated. The estimation was 0.87 treatments per 1.000 inhabitants, which
figure was substantial lower as could be expected on the basis of the outcome
of epidemiologic research projects.Within the limitations of this explorative
study, a careful conclusion could be that only few treatments for temporomandibular disorders are charged by general practitioners. Probably, they are focussing on consultation and diagnosing, and not on treating the disease themselves.