Three ranking systems based on the perceived discomforts were developed, including classification by the joint motions and joints, by types of joint motions, and by the joints only.
Pain originated from the masticatory muscles or the TMJ itself (groups 1 and 3 in the TMD classification 8) and were described as a discomfort during mastication or yawning.
Hyperacusis was defined by the screening question "Do sounds cause you pain or physical discomfort?" which corresponds to " pain hyperacusis" according to the recent classification by Tyler and colleagues [ 2].
Fletcher 15 classified outcomes into the following five simple categories: death, disease, discomfort, disability and dissatisfaction (table 3) and we judged that this classification fits well into the algorithm.
The EQ-5D self-classifier is a one-page questionnaire, which captures respondent descriptions of health problems on a 5-dimensional classification of mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain and discomfort and anxiety and depression.
Reaction to pressure will be graded from 0 to 3 with respect to discomfort (0= no discomfort, 1=minimal, 2=moderate, 3= severe discomfort with minimal pressure); this classification was used in previous studies.
The EQ-5D involves a health state classification scheme of five items (mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain and/or discomfort and anxiety and/or depression), each having three alternatives [ 9].
The descriptive or self-classification system contains five attributes (mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain or discomfort, and anxiety or depression) with three levels per attribute ("no problem", "some problems" and "extreme problems").
