Marbach J J
Division of Sociomedical Sciences, School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City.
Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1993 Feb;75(2):225-32. doi: 10.1016/0030-4220(93)90098-o.
The symptoms of phantom tooth pain are often considered to be of psychological origin by those unfamiliar with its clinical characteristics. Part of the problem is that phantom tooth pain is often confused with atypical facial pain. Extensive literature exists for the latter that suggests a psychological cause. Many studies of atypical facial pain, however, suffer from one or more of four methodologic problems. In the present study, 115 phantom tooth pain cases are compared with a contrast group of 151 facial pain cases and 137 nonpain controls on a variety of personality characteristics. Only one trait personality factor, locus of control, statistically differentiates the three groups. The chief psychological difference of the phantom tooth pain sample compared with the control and contrast groups was higher scores on a measure of demoralization. Demoralization can be interpreted as a consequence as well as an antecedent of the chronic pain state. Evidence for each opinion is presented. Suggestions for obtaining informed consent of prospective endodontic patients are suggested. This study has not demonstrated that phantom tooth pain cases are characterized by a specific premorbid personality.
那些不熟悉幻齿痛临床特征的人通常认为幻齿痛的症状源于心理因素。部分问题在于，幻齿痛常与非典型面部疼痛相混淆。关于后者存在大量表明心理病因的文献。然而，许多非典型面部疼痛的研究存在四个方法学问题中的一个或多个。在本研究中，将115例幻齿痛病例与151例面部疼痛病例及137例无疼痛对照者组成的对比组在多种人格特征方面进行了比较。在统计上，只有一个特质人格因素，即控制点，能区分这三组。与对照组和对比组相比，幻齿痛样本的主要心理差异在于在失士气量表上得分更高。失士气既可以被解释为慢性疼痛状态的结果，也可以被解释为其先兆。文中给出了支持每种观点的证据。文中还对获取牙髓病患者知情同意书提出了建议。本研究并未表明幻齿痛病例具有特定的病前人格特征。
