PERSONALITY-TRAITS IN A GROUP OF SUBJECTS WITH LONG-STANDING BRUXING BEHAVIOR

The personality pattern of 29 subjects, 10 men and 19 women, with a me an age of 37.7 years (range 23-68) was studied by means of a personali ty inventory (KSP) and compared with the personality traits of a 'norm al population', The bruxers had significantly higher scores in the som atic anxiety and muscular tension scales and lower scores in the socia lization scale; that is, the bruxers were more anxiety-prone, had high er vulnerability for psychosomatic disorders and were less socialized. The frequent clenchers (once to twice a week) comprised a special sub group within the material with higher values in the somatic anxiety, p sychic anxiety and muscular tension scales. A strong correlation was f ound between high values in the muscular tension scale and headache; a ching neck, back, throat or shoulders; tooth clenching; number of musc les tender at palpation and the clinical dysfunction index (Di), The r esults of this study indicate a possible aetiological relationship bet ween personality, tooth clenching and craniomandibular dysfunction (CM D), However, the material was small and some precaution must be taken prior to generalization of the results. Studies on larger material are needed and especially more studies in sleep laboratories.