Abstract
The clinical profiles of patients with glossodynia were investigated using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The MMPI of Japanese version 2 was adopted as the questionnaire for the first medical examination to evaluate the psychosomatic tendencies of ninety female glossodynia patients (Mean age= 53.6 years old; Question score < 55 points, Lie score < 11 points, respectively, according to MMPI points). The diagnosis of glossodynia was determined by a series interviews and a pyschomedical evaluation. The ninety patients consisted of 32 treatment-resistant and 58 treatmentsensitive subjects.
Individual examination by MMPI scales revealed that glossodynia patients have a tendency towards high scores in the Hypochondriasis (Hs), Depression scale (D) and Hysteria (Hy) scales, but all MMPI scales were within the normal range (40 <T-score <70). The individual scales of the treatment-resistant patients showed high score in not only the Hs, D and Hy but also the Psychasthenia (Pt), and Hypomania (Si) scales. The two point code examination of MMPI profiles gave 12/21 or 13/31, indicating the subjects had a tendency towards hypochondriasis, and the results were generally consistent with the clinical aspects of glossodynia.
These results suggest that (1) the two point code examination of MMPI profiles can supply clinically relevant information for the diagnosis of glossodynia and other psychosomatic disease in dentistry in which a psychological approach is needed and (2) the examination may also provide some indication of the efficiency of the treatment of the psychosomatic disorder.
