While both men and women experience TMD, most of those looking for treatment are women between 12 and 51 years of age. Actually, women are diagnosed with TMD five times as often as men are. This ratio increments with the severity of signs, reaching 9 women for each man with the most serious jaw dysfunction and chronic, implacable pain.

Researchers still are not sure why this is the case, but many think it is related to hormones. They are investigating potentially relevant pertinent sex contrasts in physiology, pain perception, jaw anatomy, and reactions to pain medications.

Female sex hormones are presumed to be relevant, since estrogen receptors have been found in jaw tissue and seem to influence pain susceptivity over the menstrual cycle.

Besides, there are anatomical differences between the two sexes in the skull and jaw. Females typically have narrower, thiner and shorter upper jaw bones. This and different factors give the TMJ a more steady environment in which to move.

Another hypothesis is that a specific gene variant is responsible for this situation in women, as this gene might make an expanded sensitivity to pain. It may be the case that this gene is more usual in women than men. Hereditary qualities, behavioral differences, anatomic contrasts, or hormones might be the reason TMD is so complex and more recurrent in women.

References:

National Institutes of Health. http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/NR/rdonlyres/39C75C9B-1795-4A87-8B46-8F77DDE639CA/0/TMJ_Disorders.pdf

Campaign to End Chronic Pain in Women. http://www.endwomenspain.org

“Why Is TMJ More Common in Women?” koalasleepcenters. https://www.koalasleepcenters.com/why-is-tmj-more-common-in-women