SF-OHIP-TMD
SF-OHIP-TMD is an 8-item, four-factor short-form patient-reported outcome measure for assessing oral health impact in temporomandibular disorders.
It was developed and validated as a brief alternative to the original OHIP-TMD while preserving multidimensional assessment of TMD-specific oral health-related quality of life.
Why SF-OHIP-TMD?
Temporomandibular disorders affect patients through pain, jaw function limitation, psychological distress, and social impairment. Existing instruments can be too long for routine clinical monitoring, longitudinal follow-up, large-scale research, and repeated digital assessment.
SF-OHIP-TMD was designed to reduce respondent burden while retaining clinically meaningful multidimensional information.
Key features
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Length | 8 items |
| Structure | Four factors |
| Domains | Psychological impact, social impact, oral function, orofacial pain |
| Source instrument | OHIP-TMD |
| Intended use | TMD-specific oral health-related quality of life assessment |
| Suitable settings | Clinical monitoring, longitudinal studies, epidemiological research, digital health assessment |
SF-OHIP-TMD Items and Scoring
The SF-OHIP-TMD consists of eight items selected from the OHIP-TMD. It covers four domains: Psychological Impact, Social Impact, Oral Function, and Orofacial Pain.
Administration instruction
Over the last month, how often have you experienced the following impacts because of problems with your jaws, teeth, or mouth?
Each item is rated using the standard OHIP response scale:
| Response option | Score |
|---|---|
| Never | 0 |
| Hardly ever | 1 |
| Occasionally | 2 |
| Fairly often | 3 |
| Very often | 4 |
Item set
| Domain | SF-OHIP-TMD item | Item wording |
|---|---|---|
| Psychological Impact | Item 1 | Have you been upset because of problems with your jaws, teeth, or mouth? |
| Item 2 | Have you felt depressed because of problems with your jaws, teeth, or mouth? | |
| Social Impact | Item 3 | Have you had difficulty doing your usual jobs because of problems with your jaws, teeth, or mouth? |
| Item 4 | Have you been unable to work to your full capacity because of problems with your jaws, teeth, or mouth? | |
| Oral Function | Item 5 | Have you had difficulty chewing any foods because of problems with your jaws, teeth, or mouth? |
| Item 6 | Have you found it uncomfortable to eat any foods because of problems with your jaws, teeth, or mouth? | |
| Orofacial Pain | Item 7 | Have you had headaches because of problems with your jaws, teeth, or mouth? |
| Item 8 | Have you felt talking was painful because of problems with your jaws, teeth, or mouth? |
Scoring
The SF-OHIP-TMD total score is calculated by adding the scores of all eight items.
The total score ranges from 0 to 32, with higher scores indicating greater TMD-related oral health impact.
Each domain contains two items. The domain score is calculated by adding the scores of the two items within that domain, so each domain score ranges from 0 to 8:
| Domain | Items | How to calculate | Score range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychological Impact | Items 1 and 2 | Add the scores of Items 1 and 2 | 0–8 |
| Social Impact | Items 3 and 4 | Add the scores of Items 3 and 4 | 0–8 |
| Oral Function | Items 5 and 6 | Add the scores of Items 5 and 6 | 0–8 |
| Orofacial Pain | Items 7 and 8 | Add the scores of Items 7 and 8 | 0–8 |
Suggested reporting format
When reporting SF-OHIP-TMD results, we recommend presenting both the total score and the four domain scores:
| Score | Range |
|---|---|
| SF-OHIP-TMD total score | 0–32 |
| Psychological Impact score | 0–8 |
| Social Impact score | 0–8 |
| Oral Function score | 0–8 |
| Orofacial Pain score | 0–8 |
The total score provides a global index of TMD-specific oral health impact, whereas the domain scores help characterize the main source of patient burden.
Citation
Zheng, Y., Yap, A. U., Wong, H. L., Tao, W., Liu, C., Wang, J., & Xiong, X. (2026). Development and validation of the short form OHIP-TMD (SF-OHIP-TMD): A four-factor eight-item scale for assessing oral health impact in temporomandibular disorders. Clinical Oral Investigations, 30(6), 277. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-026-06964-y