Abstract
Japanese society experienced rapid and supposedly substantial changes in the 1990's. It is thought that these changers may have exacerbated social stress and induced an increase in the number of patients suffering from psychiatric and psychosomatic diseases. In order to investigate changes in the characteristics of patients diagnosed as suffering from dental psychosomatic diseases during the 1990's, statistics obtained in the serial treatment of such patients in 1989 and 1998 were compared.
The subjects were patients who had visited the Department of Oral Surgery in the University Hospital of Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan, in 1989 (n=44) and 1998 (n86). There was no profound difference in the male/female ratio of the patients. The number of patients older than 65 had increased, and those younger than 65 had decreased, in 1998. The time lapse between the onset of psychosomatic syptoms and the first visit to the hospital was shorter in 1998, possibly suggesting growing awareness among patients that oral psychosomatic symptoms can be treated at the department of oral surgery.
Fewer patients were diagnosed as having oral cenestopathy and psychosomatic halitosis, but the so-callde temporomandibular disorders, glossodynia and cancerphobia had increased. In 1998, the fear of cancer seemed to be an increasingly common factor in the induction of psychomatic symptoms. The treatments used in 1998, consisting of brief psychotherapy and medicaton, were more less the same as in 1989, but the results of treatment had improved. The importance of collaboration with psychiatrists on the further improvement of serial treatment for dental psychosomatic patients is discussed.
