A study on triggers for glossodynia symptoms

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Psychosomatic Dentistry Vol. 23; no. 1-2; pp. 33 - 36
• Main Authors: Koike, Kazuyoshi, Shinozaki, Takahiro, Hara, Kazuhiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Dentistry 2008
• Subjects: dental disposal; glossodynia; triggers for symptoms
• ISSN: 0913-6681; 2186-4128
• DOI: 10.11268/jjpsd1986.23.33

Glossodynia is one of the most common dental psychosomatic disorders. We have beenstudying possible catalysts for the disease in 56 cases, consisting of 49 female and 7 male patients. Whereas the majority consisted of women in their 40's in a report of 20 years ago, most of the patients this time were females in their 50's and 60's. Dental treatment was the catalyst for Glossodynia in 29 of the female and 6 of the male cases, including 22 cases of prosthesis, half of which involved the setting of dentures. No correlation with dental treatment was found in 21 cases, and no specific catalyst was found in the majority of these, namely, in 14 cases. Regarding duration of the symptoms, 12 of the cases related to dental treatment were treated for less than a year. This applied to only 3 of the cases with no correlation to dental treatment. The psychological tests, Zung's SDS, the MD inquiry sheet and CMI revealed no remarkable differences between the group of cases caused by dental treatment and the group of those uncorrelated to dental treatment. The MAS tangible anxiety test showed high anxiety levels among patients with no correlation to dental treatment. In view of the above, we propose that consideration to the risk of Glossodynia should be given when providing dental treatment, especially in the case of prosthetics for females in their 50's and 60's with elevated anxiety levels.