Personality traits and dental anxiety in self-reported bruxism. A cross-sectional study

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between psychological factors (Personality and Dental anxiety) with self-reported bruxism-related symptoms.

526 subjects, over 18 years old and not seeking dental treatment, were recruited from the families and acquaintances of dental students from the University of Salamanca. Bruxism activity was estimated by means of a six-item questionnaire aimed at recording common bruxism-related symptoms and clenching/grinding awareness. The Spanish version of the modified dental anxiety scale (MDAS) was used to determine the level of anxiety perceived in 5 typical scenarios of dental assistance. The NEO-FFI inventory was applied to assess personality profiles associated with 5 different factors (neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness). Pearson correlations, Student T-tests, and logistic regression modelling were used for the statistical analyses.

Thirty-five point nine percent of this adults sample was classified as being bruxers, where sleep bruxers comprised more than half of the sample at 20.2%. Bruxers tended to perceive more anxiety in all of the situations included within the MDAS, where they exhibited a higher level of phobia towards the teeth scaling and local anaesthetic injection. The risk of being considered a bruxer is reduced with age (OR: 0.99), and increases proportionally for some personality traits, such as neuroticism (OR: 1.06) and extraversion(OR: 1.04), to the MDAS total score (OR: 1.08) and in smokers (OR: 1.61), after controlling for all potentially confounding factors.

Self-reported bruxism is significantly associated to several personality traits (mainly neuroticism and extraversion) and to the level of dental anxiety (MDAS score).

Clinicians should be aware of the typical psychological profiles of patients who experience bruxism and the relationship with dental phobias.