Abstract
Masticatory muscle pain (MMP) is the primary reason for chronic non-odontogenic orofacial pain in the human population. MMP has become a considerable social problem, which affects about 12–14% of the adult population and is 1.5–2 times more frequent in women than in men. This term defines a pain which has its origins in the masticatory muscles. Although MMP is typically felt in the face, jaws, and preauricular area, MMP can radiate to the ear, teeth, head, and neck. This systematic review explains the relationship between MMP and common mental states, such as anxiety, depression, mood and stress-related disorders, and is reported in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. We performed a search in the PubMed database for peer-reviewed articles published after November 1st 2006 in the context of MMP and mental states. According to the defined criteria, 38 studies were finally included into the systematic review, of which prospective cohort studies were found to be the most common. We investigated four primary outcomes (anxiety, depression, mood disorders, and stress-related disorders) and several secondary outcomes of search. Seventy-nine percent of studies concerned depression, 42% anxiety, 29% mood disorders, and 21% stress-related disorders. Most of the studies showed a relationship between MMP and alterations in mental status. Nonetheless, the researchers usually evidenced only the co-occurrence of psychiatric disorders and dysfunctions of the masticatory muscles among the group of patients, in large part in women. Moreover, some studies were marked with limited generalizability of the reported results, quality flaws and heterogeneity. In the light of the analyzed literature, the causal relationship between mental states and MMP is still not clearly established.
Highlights
masticatory muscle pain (MMP) diagnosed based on muscle tenderness with palpation occurs in 12–14% of the examined population—there is a 1.5–2 times higher chance that women will suffer from this medical condition than men (Gatchel, 2004)
We searched for clinical trials, meta-analyzes, randomized controlled trials, and systematic reviews, we did not find such types of studies
Most studies confirmed the relationship between MMP and at least one mental state, but there were
Summary
A number of papers confirm that there is a correlation between pain sensitivity and mental states (Gatchel, 2004; Means-Christensen et al, 2008; Vaccarino et al, 2009; Haviland et al, 2011). Muscle pain seems to be closely involved in this pathomechanism (Rollman and Gillespie, 2000; Haviland et al, 2011; Rees et al, 2011; Hung et al, 2016). Based on the previously cited papers (Rollman and Gillespie, 2000; Gatchel, 2004; Means-Christensen et al, 2008; Vaccarino et al, 2009; Haviland et al, 2011; Rees et al, 2011; Hung et al, 2016), this pathomechanism usually. The prevalence of MMP in the age range 7–17 years is not higher in girls than boys (Gatchel, 2004)
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