DEVELOPMENT OF OBJECTIVE METHODS FOR DIAGNOSING OCCLUSAL DYSESTHESIA

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There are patients who complain bite discomfort without evident occlusal abnormalities, and this is one of the frustrating problems in dentistry. Among the various etiologies of this condition, "occlusal dysesthesia", the abnormalities of occlusal sense might be considered as one of the factors. Therefore, in this study, the thickness discrimination ability and psychological aspects in healthy individuals and occlusal dysesthesia patients was examined to develop objective methods for diagnosing "occlusal dysesthesia".The interdental thickness discrimination test was performed at maxillary and mandibular central incisors with 2-, 5-, and 10-mm thickness standard blocks. The test blocks of which thickness were different (every 0.25 mm, ±1.5 mm maximum) from the corresponding standard block were applied after the application of the standard block. Then, subjects were asked to answer whether the test blocks were felt thicker or thinner than the standard block. The number of wrong answers w … More as submitted to the data analysis. With regard to the experiment for healthy dentate adults, there were statistically significant differences in the number of wrong answers between 2-and 10-mm, and 5-and 10-mm thickness, respectively. Significantly more wrong answers were observed for the test blocks thicker than the standard block, than for those thinner than the standard block.Regarding occlusal dysesthesia patients, the difference between thicker test blocks and thinner ones was more marked than that of healthy adults. However there were no statistically significant difference between the number of wrong answers of healthy individuals and that of occlusal dysesthesia patients. In conclusion, occlusal dysesthesia patients, in total, have no significant difference from healthy dentate individuals as for interdental thickness discrimination ability. With respect to the psychological tests, almost all occlusal dysesthesia patients had at least one problem related to psychological aspects. Hence, it was suggested that occlusal dysesthesia has correlation with psychologically abnormal conditions. Less