Impact of catastrophizing on pain during orthodontic treatment

This study proposed to investigate the influence of catastrophizing and others factors related to pain during orthodontic treatment.

27 patients with 0.022 x 0.028-in Straight-wire brackets were evaluated during alignment and leveling phase with nickel-titanium wires. Visual Analog Scales measured the intensity of orthodontic pain at six moments after a clinical appointment: 6 first hours; 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 days. Multiple linear regression and stepwise approach assessed the influence of the following variables on pain: catastrophizing, sex, age, duration of treatment, clinical appointment time (morning or afternoon), and wire diameter.

The highest pain intensity was reported 24 hours after activation. These data were used to analyze factors associated with pain level. Age (r = 0.062, p= 0.7586), sex (p= 0.28), catastrophizing (r = -0.268, p= 0.1765), and orthodontic wire diameter (r = 0.0245, p= 0.2181) were not correlated with orthodontic pain in the univariate statistics. Catastrophizing was included in the multiple regression model because it was of great interest. Duration of orthodontic treatment (r = 0.6045, p= 0.0008) and the time when orthodontic appliance was activated (p= 0.0106) showed statistical significant associations with pain, and were also included in the multivariate regression, which showed that about 32% of orthodontic pain could be explained by the duration of treatment (R2= 0.32, p= 0.0475). Catastrophizing (R2= 0.0006, p= 0.8881) and clinical appointment time were not significantly associated with pain (R2= 0.037, p= 0.2710).

Pain after activation of fixed orthodontic appliance is not associated with catastrophizing as well as age, sex, orthodontic wire diameter, and period of activation.