Association of oral behaviours' frequency with psychological profile, somatosensory amplification, presence of pain and self-reported pain intensity.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of the frequency of oral behaviours with psychological (anxiety, depression) and psychosomatic factors (somatosensory amplification) as well as with pain presence (Temporomandibular disorders-pain (TMDp) patients and control (CTR) participants) and pain intensity (no_low pain intensity (nLPI)/high pain intensity (HPI)). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty-four TMDp patients (48 females and 6 males; 29.13 +/- 10.46 years) and 46 controls (29 females and 17 males; 28.54 +/- 9.71 years) were administered Oral Behaviours Checklist (OBC), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 for depression and Somatosensory Amplification Scale. Data were analysed with respect to the presence of TMD pain and to pain intensity. Mann-Whitney test and Spearman's rank correlation were used for analyses. RESULTS: No significant differences in examined variables between TMDp patients and CTR individuals were found. The frequency of oral behaviors (OBC total score and sleep-related oral behaviours) as well as anxiety, depression and somatosensory amplification scores were higher in HPI group when compared to nLPI group (p < .05). In univariate correlations, oral behaviours were positively correlated with somatosensory amplification (p = .001), anxiety (p < .05), depression (p < .05), female sex (p < .05) and pain intensity (p < .05) but not with pain presence. Multiple linear regression models showed that predictors for the higher frequency of oral behaviours were anxiety and female sex. CONCLUSIONS: Oral behaviours were associated with pain intensity but not with pain presence and were primarily influenced by anxiety and female sex, suggesting that therapeutic approach should consider both, reducing pain intensity and management of the impact of psychological factors.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04694274. Registered on 01/04/2021.