Abstract
Bizarre behavior with regard to pain by a schizophrenic patient is reported. A 65 year old male schizophrenic patient suffered from two sort of pains at the same time. The one was slight and caused from irritation of the lowere denture and the other was severe one caused from suppurative inflammation of a maxillary cyst. For a week, he endured the severe pain and did not tell it to anyone. He persistently complained only the slight pain. So the author overlooked the suppurative lesion. When he ultimately complained the severe pain, the lesion was expanded severly, tenderness remarkable. Though the patient was familliar with handling his dentures, he had never tried to remove the upper one between this painful period. The upper denture exsert hard pressure upon the swelling lesion (Fig.1). Soon after the lesion was incised and pus was drainerged, the patient worried about the lunch for a picnic two days after. But the author could not understnad the reason. The bizzare behavior toward the pain was hardly exhibited between normal patients. It suggested the existence of cognitive deficit. In daily dental practice of schizophrenic patients, the author has often experienced their bizarre behavior to painful stimulation like this case. Since cogntive deficit is commonly found between schizophrenic patients, the dentist should always take into account its effect on the pain perception when he evaluates their pain.
