Oral medicine psychiatric liaison clinic: study of 1202 patients attending over an 18-year period

Abstract Patients with orofacial pain and discomfort often suffer from psychiatric disorders. However, few studies involving a large sample have examined the diagnostic results of patients with orofacial pain or discomfort in relation to psychiatric disorders. The purpose of this study was to summarize and clarify the characteristics and demographic data of 1202 patients attending the psychiatric liaison clinic at Aichi Gakuin University Hospital. Psychiatric diagnosis was performed by psychiatrists for all patients, based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition. Among the 1202 patients, 992 (82.5%) were female. The average age of the patients was 57.2 ± 15.0 years. The predominant broad categories of orofacial pain and discomfort seen were burning mouth syndrome ( n  = 484, 40.3%), persistent idiopathic facial pain ( n  = 258, 21.5%), and oral dysesthesia ( n  = 215, 17.9%). The predominant broad categories of psychiatric diagnoses seen were somatic symptoms and related disorders ( n  = 934, 77.7%) and depressive disorders ( n  = 76, 6.3%). Among the 934 patients with somatic symptoms and related disorders, 678 had a somatic symptom disorder with predominant pain. The results confirmed that most patients with orofacial pain and discomfort were middle-aged and elderly women suffering from a somatic symptom disorder with predominant pain.