Journal of dentistry
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To evaluate the prevalence of different Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) diagnoses in a population of patients seeking for TMD treatment at a tertiary clinic in Northern Italy; to evaluate the pattern of age distribution of RDC/TMD diagnoses and to compare data with those from similar studies in the literature. ⋯ Along with descriptive relative frequencies of the RDC/TMD diagnoses, which have been compared with other similar studies in the literature, the main findings of the present investigation were that at least two distinct age peaks are identifiable within this population of patients seeking for TMD treatment. These data might be useful to gather data on the specific epidemiologic features of each single RDC/TMD diagnoses. These findings have to be confirmed by means of multicenter studies involving many calibrated investigators.