Relation in Frequent Tooth Pain and Parafunctional Oral Behaviors

Objectives: Previous studies have suggested that tooth wear is associated with toothache and hypersensitivity. It is not clear whether parafunctional oral behaviors are associated with toothache. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between various parafunctional oral behaviors and the frequency of toothache.
Methods: De-identified data from the Orofacial Pain Prospective Evaluation and Risk Assessment Study (OPPERA) was used for secondary analysis. Self-reported frequency of toothache was categorized into 2 groups: 1. Frequent (every month or more), and 2. Non-frequent (less than every month). Parafunctional oral behaviors were assessed by the summary score (0-84) of the Oral Behavior Checklist (OBC). 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 OBC summary score 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 3,217 individuals included in this study, mostly female (57.2%) and white respondents (50.5%), mean age = 27(±7.8) years. Bivariate analysis showed no group difference by sex, but a significantly higher proportion of African American or Black individuals reported frequent toothache. Multivariate analysis showed that individuals with higher OBS score are more likely to have frequent toothache (OR=1.07, 95% CI=1.05-1.85). Post-hoc analysis showed that teeth grinding or clenching and many jaw posturing habits were more common in those with frequent toothache than in those without (p’s < 0.001).
Conclusions: Our study found that individuals with more parafunctional oral behaviors (e.g., teeth clenching/grinding and jaw posturing) are more likely to report frequent toothache. Findings suggested that preventative and/or alleviating measures such as night guards and habits modification strategies should be considered for those with frequent toothache.