Construcción de un instrumento para el diagnóstico de los trastornos temporomandibulares

Abstract

The aim of this research/investigation was to construct and perform the content validation of an instrument which evaluates temporomandibular disorders (TMD) in order to get a unified diagnosis, and research use. The instrument was built taking as a reference the "Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders" (RDC / TMD), the instrument recommended by the World Health Organization, among others. This instrument was structured in two components which were distributed in questionnaire and clinical examination (with their respective instructions). The questionnaire was divided into four components: history, psychosocial status, pain behavior and joint noise. While clinical examination had three components: muscle, joint and range of motion, content validity was performed using the Delphi methodology. Nine judges assessed the sufficiency, relevance, coherence, pertinence, syntax, and semantics of each one of the elements from the instrument in three rounds; by making pertinent adjustments in each one of them. Finally, the instrument was composed of twenty-two questions in the questionnaire and the clinical examination with three items. It is necessary to perform the validity of both internal consistency and instrument reliability.