Overlapping Pain Conditions and Frequent Tooth Pain

Objectives: Overlapping pain conditions often share similar underlying disease pathophysiology and mechanisms. The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between overlapping body pains and the frequency of toothache.
Methods: Secondary data were analyzed using the Orofacial Pain: Prospective Evaluation and Risk Assessment (OPPERA) dataset. Self-reported frequency of toothache and 7 body pain conditions were each categorized into “frequent” (every month or more) and “non-frequent” (otherwise). Descriptive statistics were summarized by toothache groups. Bivariate analyses were conducted using ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, or Chi-square tests as indicated. Multivariate analysis using logistic regression was conducted to evaluate the relationship between the total number of frequent body pain (range 0-7) and the presence of frequent toothache, adjusted for demographics and study site (α=0.05). All analyses were conducted using SAS (version 9.4).
Results: There were 3217 individuals included in this study. Mean age was 27 ±7.8 years. Overall, Frequent toothache was reported by 241 (7.5%) participants. Frequent body pain reports ranged from 5.8% (chest pain) to 41.7% (headache) in the study population. Individuals having frequent toothache also reported frequent body pain for each condition examined (p's <0.001). After adjusted for demographics and study sites, those individuals with frequent body pain were more likely to report frequent toothache (OR=1.7, 95% CI: 1.6 – 1.8). In addition, African American individuals were more likely to report frequent toothache (OR=2.7, 95% CI=1.9 – 3.9).
Conclusions: Young adults with frequent overlapping body pain are significantly more likely to have frequent toothache. A better understanding of the shared pathophysiology between overlapping body pain and odontalgia may have beneficial implications for the identification of at-risk individuals and opportunities for future intervention in tooth pain.