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Biomedical subjects

S F Dworkin

Publications and source records attributed to S F Dworkin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

The roles of beliefs, catastrophizing, and coping in the functioning of patients with temporomandibular disorders.

Pain-related beliefs, catastrophizing, and coping have been shown to be associated with measures of physical and psychosocial functioning among patients with chronic musculoskeletal and rheumatologic pain. However, little is known about the relative importance of these process variables in the functioning of patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD). To address this gap in the literature, self-report measures of pain, beliefs, catastrophizing, coping, pain-related activity interference, jaw activity limitations, and depression, as well as an objective measure of jaw opening impairment, were obtained from 118 patients at a TMD specialty clinic. Controlling for age, gender, and pain intensity, significant associations were found between (1) pain beliefs and activity interference, depression, and non-masticatory jaw activity limitations, (2) catastrophizing and activity interference, depression, and non-masticatory jaw activity limitations, and (3) coping and activity interference and depression. Controlling for age, gender, pain intensity, and the other process variables, significant associations were found between (1) beliefs and activity interference and depression, and (2) catastrophizing and depression. No process variable was associated significantly with the objective measure of jaw impairment. The results suggest that for patients with moderate or high levels of TMD pain and dysfunction, beliefs about pain play an important role in physical and psychosocial functioning.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2001

The dentist as biobehavioral clinician.

At the core of all clinical dental practice is the interpersonal interaction between dentist and patient. An expansion of the dentist's responsibility in the unique dentist-patient relationship is suggested. Such an expanded role encourages dentists to engage the emotional and behavioral health of dental patients who are appearing in dental offices for treatment of orofacial diseases and other conditions. The term "biobehavioral clinician" is used to refer to this broadened role for the dentist. It is suggested that such a biobehaviorally oriented dentist will be a powerful ally on behalf of the health of patients, attending to more dimensions of the patient's presentation and management than the diagnosis and treatment of oral pathobiology. It seems entirely appropriate that dentists have such a role in its future, engaging as they do millions and millions of Americans on a regular basis and a productive and collaborative dentist-patient relationship is already an accomplished fact for most dentists with most of their patients across all stages of the life span. The benefit to patients' overall health and well-being could be tremendous and would add an enriching and personally rewarding dimension to being a dentist.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

The emergence of the social and behavioral sciences in dentistry: Lois Cohen as principal architect.

The role that Lois played at the NIDR and the IADR as an advocate for biopsychosocial research in dentistry cannot be underestimated and remains one of her most cherished and lasting legacies. First, she has steadfastly maintained her vision for dentistry as a major health discipline that continues to mature toward acceptance of responsibility for every aspect of the impact that oral disease could have on the health and welfare of its patients. Next, she has been an exemplary role model as a rigorous social scientist, simultaneously advocating that such research be interdisciplinary and collaborative while reflecting only the highest standards of excellence for research from the social, biologic, and clinical sciences. Through her administrative leadership skills, she has encouraged such a research mission to be incorporated into the long-range planning of the NIDCR, IADR, FDI, and ADA. Such is the esteem in which she is held that respected social scientists have been attracted to dentistry, persuaded by her vision and drawn by her science. For several decades, thanks to Lois as the primary role model, these scientists have been able to develop their own careers and research interests while bringing cadres of new scientists similarly committed to the broadest and deepest understanding of dental and orofacial growth and development and the prevention and management of dental and orofacial conditions as those processes emerge in peoples around the world.

Behavioral Sciences↗
PubMed1999

TMD in children and adolescents: prevalence of pain, gender differences, and perceived treatment need.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of pain that is related to temporomandibular disorders (TMD), gender differences, and perceived treatment need in children and adolescents at a public dental clinic in Linköping, Sweden. METHODS: A total of 862 children and adolescents aged 12 to 18 years received a questionnaire and their jaw opening was measured. Those who reported pain once a week or more in the masticatory system received a more comprehensive examination, including the Research Diagnostic Criteria for TMD and a neurologic examination (group 1). Group 2 reported pain less than once a week. RESULTS: Seven percent of subjects (63/862) were diagnosed with TMD pain. Both genders exhibited similar distributions of TMD diagnoses, except that myofascial pain was significantly more common in girls than in boys. Prevalence of pain once a week or more was reported as: 21% in the head; 12% in the temples; and 3% in the face, temporomandibular joint, or jaws. The prevalence of TMD-related pain was significantly higher in girls than in boys. Self-reported TMD symptoms were significantly more common (P < 0.001) in group 1. No significant gender differences were found in group 1 for pain intensity, behavioral rating scale scores, medicine consumption, reported days of school absence, or perceived need for treatment. CONCLUSION: Overall, TMD-related pain was more common in girls than in boys. A majority of children and adolescents who experienced pain once a week or more perceived a need for treatment. Seven percent of the examined subjects were diagnosed with TMD pain.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

TMD in patients with primary Sjögren syndrome: a comparison with temporomandibular clinic cases and controls.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) in patients with primary Sjögren syndrome (1 degree SS), analyze the impact of the disease on mandibular function, and assess psychosocial distress. METHODS: Sixty-three subjects, 60 women and 3 men, participated in the study; 21 1 degree SS patients were compared with age-matched and gender-matched groups of TMD subjects and controls. Patients were examined according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders. RESULTS: Results showed that the subjective, clinical, and radiographic signs of TMD are not more common in patients with 1 degree SS than in controls. The impact of the autoimmune disease on mandibular function, e.g., speech and chewing ability, revealed limitations in oral functioning similar to those in patients with TMD pain. CONCLUSION: Both 1 degree SS and chronic TMD may be associated with appreciable physical discomfort and psychosocial dysfunction. However, the underlying mechanisms of the oral dysfunction of 1 degree SS and TMD are quite different and essentially unrelated.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Five-year outcomes in TMD: relationship of changes in pain to changes in physical and psychological variables.

Factors influencing natural history and clinical course of pain in temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are largely unknown. Physical, psychological and behavioral data from a population-based epidemiologic study of TMD were examined in 234 cases of persons reporting TMD pain. The cases were assigned to one of five pain pattern groups based on changes in average TMD pain from baseline to 5-year follow-up: (i) remitted (49% of the sample), (ii) high-improvement (14%), (iii) low-improvement (9%), (iv) same (13%), and (v) worse (16%). For each pain change group, an ANOVA-derived pattern analysis was performed to assess whether the pattern of change in each of seven physical and three psychological variables was congruent or dissimilar to the pattern of change in average pain intensity. For none of the physical or psychological variables was the change over time completely congruent with the changes in pain. Changes in ambient average TMD pain were most closely related to those clinical variables whose assessment is influenced by pain or other self-reported symptoms (e.g., number of muscle sites painful to examiner palpation), while the amount of pain change was less closely related to changes in clinical variables, such as joint sounds, where assessment is not dependent on subjective report. The three psychological variables, anxiety, depression, and somatization, displayed similar change patterns, but these patterns were distinctly different from those of the physical variables in that the remitted pain group was at the population mean at baseline for these psychological variables and remained there; significant improvement in psychological status was observed only in the pain group showing high improvement. The other three pain change groups exhibited elevated psychological distress scores at both baseline and 5 years. These results indicate that although the relationships among the course of pain, of physical variables, and of psychological variables are complicated, the 5-year outcome in pain is largely independent of readily discernible changes in clinical signs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Psychophysiological assessment of stress in chronic pain: comparisons of stressful stimuli and of response systems.

Due to disparate findings across the published studies, the stress-hyperactivity hypothesis has never been fully accepted as a causal mechanism for chronic muscle pain. Two recent comprehensive reviews of the psychophysiological studies of chronic pain came to opposite conclusions about the viability of the hypothesis, which stemmed from differing importance placed on the experimental methodology: the adequacy of stress manipulation. The present study tested the hypotheses that the adequacy of stress manipulation is influenced by stress stimuli type, degree of personal relevance, and selection of criterion for verification of stress experience, and that these factors have a measurable impact on the related physiological responses in a manner that is consistent with a theory of stress applicable to clinical stress disorders. The three factors investigated were: task (imagery, reaction time), relevance (high, low), and manipulation criterion (autonomic, self-report). The tasks were presented to 16 chronic pain patients while muscle, electrodermal, and self-report responses were recorded. Reaction-time tasks and high-relevance conditions led to high muscle and electrodermal responses. Only the high-relevance imagery, however, produced high self-reported distress. Consistent with other research, the present overall data demonstrated differing physiological profiles for different stimuli types. More importantly, these data suggest that the manipulation type and the manipulation criterion influence outcomes of experimental tests of stress on physiological systems, which may directly lead to contrasting conclusions about causal relations between stress and chronic pain conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Temporomandibular disorders in children and adolescents: reliability of a questionnaire, clinical examination, and diagnosis.

Recently developed Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) have been shown to be reliable for diagnosing and assessing TMD in U.S. and Swedish adult populations; however, few studies have focused on clinical examination methods and diagnostic criteria for use with children and adolescents. The present study used a sample of 50 Swedish children and adolescents, aged 12 to 18 years, to evaluate usefulness and reliability of existing and specially developed measures and methods for assessing and diagnosing TMD in youth. Subjects underwent repeated clinical exams by two calibrated examiners to assess signs and symptoms per the RDC/TMD, and they responded to a specially developed self-administered questionnaire that addressed location and frequency of TMD-related pain and symptoms, jaw function, effect of pain on daily activities, and use of pain medications. Interexaminer and intraexaminer reliability was assessed for clinical examination, questionnaire items, and diagnosis. Reliability values ranged from acceptable to excellent for the RDC/TMD clinical exam and questionnaire, and from good to excellent reliability for measuring virtually all modified clinical parameters of TMD assessed in these young patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Perceived need for local anesthesia in tooth drilling among Anglo-Americans, Chinese, and Scandinavians.

This study explored ethnic differences in perceptions of pain and the need for local anesthesia for tooth drilling among age- and gender-matched Anglo-American, Mandarin Chinese, and Scandinavian dentists (n = 129) and adult patients (n = 396) using a systematic qualitative research strategy. Semistructured qualitative interviews determined: (a) the relative frequency of use or nonuse of anesthetic for similarly specified tooth drilling, (b) the reasons for nonuse of anesthetic as reported by dentists about their patients, and (c) the distribution of reasons for not using anesthetic. American dentists (n = 51) reported that about 1% of their adult patients did not use anesthetic compared with 90% among Chinese (n = 31) and 37.5% among Scandinavian dentists (n = 40). Of patients, Americans (n = 112) reported 6% nonuse of anesthetic for tooth drilling compared with 90% of 159 Chinese and 54% of 125 Scandinavians. Reasons among Anglo-Americans and Scandinavians were similar (ranked): the sensation was tolerable, to avoid numb feelings afterwards, and fear of injections. Danish patients were an exception; the fact that they had paid extra and out-of-pocket for anesthetic ranked second. In contrast, Chinese dentists made their decisions not to use anesthetics because they explained drilling as only a suan or "sourish" sensation, whereas injections were described as "painful." It was concluded that ethnic pain beliefs and differences in health-care systems are powerful psychosocial variables that affect pain perception and the perceived need for anesthetic.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Acute pain and use of local anesthesia: tooth drilling and childbirth labor pain beliefs among Anglo-Americans, Chinese, and Scandinavians.

Differences in ethnic beliefs about the perceived need for local anesthesia for tooth drilling and childbirth labor were surveyed among Anglo-Americans, Mandarin Chinese, and Scandinavians (89 dentists and 251 patients) matched for age, gender, and occupation. Subjects matched survey questionnaire items selected from previously reported interview results to estimate (a) their beliefs about the possible use of anesthetic for tooth drilling and labor pain compared with other possible remedies and (b) the choice of pain descriptors associated with the use of nonuse of anesthetic, including descriptions of injection pain. Multidimensional scaling, Gamma, and Chi-square statistics as well as odds ratios and Spearman's correlations were employed in the analysis. Seventy-seven percent of American informants reported the use of anesthetics as possible remedies for drilling and 51% reported the use of anesthetics for labor pain compared with 34% that reported the use of anesthetics among Chinese for drilling and 5% for labor pain and 70% among Scandinavians for drilling and 35% for labor pain. Most Americans and Swedes described tooth-drilling sensations as sharp, most Chinese used descriptors such as sharp and "sourish" (suan), and most Danes used words like shooting (jagende). By rank, Americans described labor pain as cramping, sharp, and excruciating, Chinese used words like sharp, intermittent, and horrible, Danes used words like shooting, tiring, and sharp, and Swedes used words like tiring, "good," yet horrible. Preferred pain descriptors for drilling, birth, and injection pains varied significantly by ethnicity. Results corroborated conclusions of a qualitative study about pain beliefs in relation to perceived needs for anesthetic in tooth drilling. Samples used to obtain the results were estimated to approach qualitative representativity for these urban ethnic groups.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Consensus analysis: reliability, validity, and informant accuracy in use of American and Mandarin Chinese pain descriptors.

A quantitative method for validating qualitative interview results and checking sample parameters is described and illustrated using common pain descriptions among a sample of Anglo-American and mandarin Chinese patients and dentists matched by age and gender. Assumptions were that subjects were members of a sociocultural group (e.g. ethnic or professional/lay) and answered questions independently about a monotonic domain (e.g. pain). Subjects answered 18 true/false items derived from and selected to reflect pain perceptions consistent with published and unpublished interview data. Estimates of consistency in use of descriptors within groups, validity of description, accuracy of individuals compared with others in their group, and minimum required sample size were calculated using Cronbach's alpha, factor analysis, and Bayesian probability. Ethnic and professional differences within and across groups were also tested using multidimensional scaling (MDS) and hypothesis testing. Consensus (consistency of subject response by group) was .99 among Anglo-Americans and .97 among Chinese. Mean subject accuracy was .81 for Americans and .57 for Chinese, indicating the need for larger numbers of Chinese to supplement each others' statements. However, larger numbers of subjects were recruited than actually required for each ethnic group at .95 confidence limits. MDS showed similarities in use of descriptors within ethnic groups, while there were differences (p < .001) between Chinese and American groups. Use of covalidating questionnaires that reflect results of qualitative interviews are recommended in order to estimate sample parameters such as intersubject agreement, individual subject accuracy, and minimum required sample sizes.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Use of exogenous hormones and risk of temporomandibular disorder pain.

Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are common pain conditions that have their highest prevalence among women of reproductive age. The higher prevalence of TMD pain among women, pattern of onset after puberty and lowered prevalence rates in the post-menopausal years suggest that female reproductive hormones may play an etiologic role in TMD. Two epidemiologic studies were designed to assess whether use of exogenous hormones is associated with increased risk of TMD pain. Both used data from automated pharmacy records of women enrolled in a large health maintenance organization to identify prescriptions filled for post-menopausal hormone replacement therapies (Study 1) or for oral contraceptives (OCs) (Study 2). Study 1 employed an age-matched case-control design to compare post-menopausal hormone use among 1291 women over age 40 referred for TMD treatment and 5164 controls not referred. After controlling for health services use, the odds of being a TMD case were approximately 30% higher among those receiving estrogen compared to those not exposed (P = 0.002); a clear dose-response relationship was evident. The relationship of progestin use to TMD was not statistically significant. Study 2 used a similar design to examine the relationship of OC use to referral for TMD care, drawing on data from 1473 cases and 5892 controls aged 15-35. Use of OCs was also associated with referral for TMD care, with an increased risk of TMD of approximately 20% for OC users, after controlling for health services use (P < 0.05). These results suggest that female reproductive hormones may play an etiologic role in orofacial pain. This relationship warrants further investigation through epidemiologic, clinical and basic research.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Behavioral and educational modalities.

General agreement has emerged in the scientific literature that behavioral and educational modalities are useful and effective in the management of chronic pain conditions. Behavioral and educational treatment modalities constitute a component of virtually every established chronic pain treatment program. It has been demonstrated that management of temporomandibular disorders has benefited from such behavioral interventions as well. The label "biobehavioral" refers to proven, safe methods that emphasize self-management and acquisition of self-control over not only pain symptoms but also their cognitive attributions or meanings and maintaining a productive level of psychosocial function, even if pain is not totally absent. A large collection of treatment modalities is subsumed under the label of biobehavioral treatments; the most commonly studied of these include biofeedback, stress management, relaxation, hypnosis, and education. An NIH Technology and Assessment Conference held in 1995 comprises the best available summary of the state of the art concerning the suitability of biobehavioral methods as useful approaches to ameliorate chronic pain, including TMD. Educational methods have also been demonstrated to be efficacious in the self-management of headache and back pain, but only limited data are available for TMD. By and large, when biobehavioral treatments are used in the management of TMD, effects are virtually always positive and in the hypothesized beneficial direction. While effects are often moderate in size, these methods show the potential for producing long-lasting benefits when compared with usual clinical treatment for TMD. Research has as yet failed to establish one biobehavioral modality as superior to another. It is important to note that much the same situation is present with regard to the scientifically established validity of many biomedically based TMD treatments.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1997

Hypnotic control of pain: historical perspectives and future prospects.

Hypnotic analgesia has occupied a pivotal place in experimental and clinical hypnosis. It emerged early in the 19th century when effective clinical techniques for pain management had not yet developed, and the relief of pain and suffering had not even become a well-defined social goal. Its acceptance was further complicated by political struggles surrounding the humanitarian transformation of medicine during this era as well as a redefinition of the physician-patient relationship that wrested control from the patient. The initial struggle for professional acceptance was won only when the debate became almost entirely localized within the professional community. Acceptance of hypnosis by professional organizations has been followed by alternating periods of interest and indifference. While the evidence for the powerful effects of suggestion and related variables has often been observed and reported in nonhypnotic contexts, their relationship to hypnotic phenomena has often not been appreciated. Since the mid-20th century, scientific information about hypnotic analgesia has grown substantially and has had significant influence on strategies for acute and chronic pain management. If recent calls for its wider application in pain management are to succeed, it will require additional data from clinical populations and a balanced and scientifically prudent approach by its advocates.

Forecasting↗
PubMed1997

Practical implications of noncompliance in randomized clinical trials for temporomandibular disorders.

Randomized clinical trials are recognized as providing the most rigorous evidence of treatment efficacy. For temporomandibular disorders, randomized clinical trials have been used to evaluate the efficacy of low-cost occlusal appliances or the adjunct use of cognitive behavioral interventions. However, noncompliance with treatment regimens and losses to follow up are common randomized clinical trial protocol violations that compromise the desired rigor of the trial. At times it is not clear to the investigator how to deal with these issues during the trial and at the data analysis phase. Often treatment efficacy is based on the compliant subjects, subjects who may no longer represent randomized groups or yield the desired "fair" estimate of treatment efficacy. This study focuses on management of compliance issues, the description and collection of data needed to obtain a more accurate assessment of treatment efficacy, and results particularly relevant to actual clinical practice and patient care decisions. These are applied to a randomized clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral intervention for temporomandibular disorders.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1996

Comparing TMD diagnoses and clinical findings at Swedish and US TMD centers using research diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders.

The Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) guidelines, originally developed in the United States, were translated and used to classify TMD patients on physical diagnosis (Axis I) and pain-related disability and psychologic status (Axis II) in a TMD specialty clinic in Sweden. The objectives of the study were to determine if such a translation process resulted in a clinically useful diagnostic research measure and to report initial findings when the RDC/TMD was used in cross-cultural comparisons. Findings gathered using the Swedish version of the RDC/TMD were compared with findings from a major US TMD specialty clinic that provided much of the clinical data used to formulate the original RDC/TMD. One hundred consecutive patients were enrolled in the study. Five patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 13 children or adolescents were excluded. The remaining 82 patients participating in the study comprised 64 women and 18 men. Group I (muscle) disorder was found in 76% of the patients; Group II (disc displacement) disorder was found in 32% and 39% of the patients in the right and left joints, respectively; Group III (arthralgia, arthritis, arthrosis) disorder was found in 25% and 32% of the patients in the right and left joints, respectively. Axis II assessment of psychologic status showed that 18% of patients yielded severe depression scores and 28% yielded high nonspecific physical symptom scores. Psychosocial dysfunction was observed in 13% of patients based on graded chronic pain scores. These initial results suggest that the RDC guidelines are valuable in helping to classify TMD patients and allowing multicenter and cross-cultural comparison of clinical findings.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1995

Do changes in patient beliefs and coping strategies predict temporomandibular disorder treatment outcomes?

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the applicability of the cognitive-behavioral model for temporomandibular disorders (TMD) by determining whether changes in TMD patient pain-related beliefs and coping over the course of treatment related to improvement in symptoms and disability and whether patients' posttreatment beliefs and coping predicted future pain and functioning. PATIENTS/SETTING: We studied 139 TMD patients at a health maintenance organization or a university dental school who completed a clinical trial comparing usual treatment with or without a brief cognitive-behavioral intervention. OUTCOME MEASURES/DESIGN: Pain, disability, depression, objective physical impairment, and pain beliefs and coping strategies were assessed pretreatment and at 3- and 12-month follow-ups. RESULTS: Increased ability to control pain and decreased Disease Conviction and Passive Coping scores were associated with improved pain, jaw opening, and depression from pretreatment to 3-month follow-up. Patient beliefs and coping at 3-month follow-up did not contribute much to the prediction of pain or physical and psychological functioning at 12-month follow-up after controlling for 3-month pain and functioning scores. However, passive coping and low ability to control pain at 3 months predicted greater activity interference at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: Pretreatment to 3-month follow-up changes in beliefs and coping are associated modestly with TMD patient improvement after conservative dental treatment with and without a brief cognitive-behavioral intervention. Research is needed to develop interventions that produce greater decreases in disease conviction, passive coping, and perceived inability to control pain and to determine whether these changes mediate symptom and disability improvement.

Adaptation, Psychological↗