Abstract
We report the case of a patient who could not wear a denture due to a severe vomiting reaction. The condition was diagnosed as denture phobia or maladaptation to the denture. We considered as one possible reason for this condition the bullying she received from her step-mother in childhood.
In this case, nearly sixty years had passed since the bullying occurred, but she remembered it clearly. She had long since become a mother herself and learned to see her step-mother in a more positive light.
PTSD could not be diagnosed, so we explained the relationship in terms of the mental trauma in her childhood and treated her with supportive mental therapy. In medical therapy, we administered an antiaxiety drug because we suspected that her chief complaint was the fear of the vomiting reaction experienced when wearing the denture. We also used the exposure method of behavioral therapy to reduce the denture phobia.
