Anxiety symptoms in clinically diagnosed bruxers

Abstract

The present work was an attempt to investigate for the existence of an association between anxiety psychopathology and bruxism. The presence of bruxism was investigated according to validated clinical criteria in 98 subjects, who also filled out a self-report questionnaire (PAS-SR) for the assessment of panic-agoraphobic spectrum. 34.7% (n = 34) of participants were diagnosed as bruxers. The prevalence of anxiety psychopathology was similar between bruxers and non-bruxers, but Mann-Whitney U-test revealed significant differences in total PAS-SR (P = 0.026) score, indicating that subclinical symptoms of the anxiety spectrum might differentiate bruxers from controls. In particular, significant differences emerged in scores of domains evaluating panic (P = 0.039), stress sensitivity (P = 0.006) and reassurance sensitivity symptoms (P = 0.005) of panic-agoraphobic spectrum. Support to the existence of an association between bruxism and certain psychopathological symptoms has been provided.