TMD patients suffered from impaired OHRQoL considerably more than controls. OHRQoL in TMD patients is a multidimensional phenomenon influenced by previous orthodontic treatment, comorbid symptoms, pain, functional limitations, and muscle tenderness scores.

Objectives To develop and present the methods utilized for the Dental, Oral, Medical Epidemiological (DOME) study. Methods The DOME is an electronic record-based cross-sectional study, that was conducted to measure the dental, periodontal, and oral morbidities and their associations with systemic morbidities, among a nationally representative sample of young to middle-aged adults military personnel from the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). To that end, we developed a strict protocol including standardized terminology, data collection, and handling. Results Data for the DOME study was derived simultaneously from three electronic records of the IDF: (1) a central demographic database, (2) the dental patient record (DPR), and (3) the medical computerized patient record (CPR). The established DOME repository includes socio-demographic, dental and medical records of 132,354 young to middle-age military personnel from the IDF, who attended the dental clinics during the year 2015. Records of general military personnel (N > 50,000), with no recorded dental visits during the study period, served as a control group regarding all other parameters except dental. The DOME study continues and is currently collecting longitudinal data from the year 2010 until 2020. The IDF employs a standardized uniform administrative and clinical work-up and treatment protocols as well as uniform computerized codes. We describe the standardized definitions for all the parameters that were included: socio-demographics, health-related habits, medical and dental attendance patterns, and general and dental health status. Multicollinearity analysis results of the sociodemographic and medical study parameters are presented. Conclusion Standardized work-up and definitions are essential to establish the centralized DOME data repository to study the extent of dental and systemic morbidities and their associations.

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Better health-related behaviors and routine dental attendance have a protective effect on OHRQoL. Clinicians should assess these behaviors during routine diagnostic workups. Global health authorities need to integrate oral and general health care and improve both OHrQoL and HrQoL.