title: Temperament and character profiles of patients with burning mouth syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a chronic disease in which patients feel a burning sensation and pain in the oral cavity. Although personality traits have been suggested to influence the development and course of BMS, they have not yet been examined in detail. We therefore investigated the personality traits of BMS patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sample consisted of 65 BMS patients presenting to the Aichi-Gakuin Dental School Hospital between May 2005 and April 2009. They were also diagnosed as having pain disorder by a psychiatrist. The control group consisted of 116 healthy subjects. The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was used to evaluate personality traits, while the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to evaluate the depression rate in both groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In TCI, we found that, in comparison to the control group, the novelty seeking score was significantly lower (p = 0.009), the harm avoidance score was significantly higher (p < 0.001), and the self-directedness score was significantly lower (p = 0.039) in the BMS group. To remove the influence of depression, we performed an analysis of covariance of each TCI item using the BDI score as a covariate. No significant differences were observed in harm avoidance or self-directedness, whereas the differences noted in novelty seeking were significant (p = 0.008).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The novelty seeking score was low in BMS patients in comparison to the control group. They also had high harm avoidance and low self-directedness tendencies, but these were attributed to the influence of depression.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan. Electronic address: tatsuyatokura@gmail.com.
authors: Tatsuya
authors: T
authors: Tokura
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan. Electronic address: kimurahi@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
authors: Hiroyuki
authors: H
authors: Kimura
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Aichi-Gakuin University, Nagoya, Japan. Electronic address: mi_ito1013@yahoo.co.jp.
authors: Mikiko
authors: M
authors: Ito
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan. Electronic address: ooshiro9992000@yahoo.co.jp.
authors: Wataru
authors: W
authors: Nagashima
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan. Electronic address: satonao@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
authors: Naohiro
authors: N
authors: Sato
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Aichi-Gakuin University, Nagoya, Japan. Electronic address: space-yuki0712@k4.dion.ne.jp.
authors: Yuki
authors: Y
authors: Kimura
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Aichi-Gakuin University, Nagoya, Japan. Electronic address: araoarao@hotmail.com.
authors: Munetaka
authors: M
authors: Arao
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan. Electronic address: branko@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
authors: Branko
authors: B
authors: Aleksic
authors: Health Care Promotion Division, Denso Corporation, Kariya, Japan. Electronic address: cxw01076@nifty.com.
authors: Keizo
authors: K
authors: Yoshida
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Aichi-Gakuin University, Nagoya, Japan. Electronic address: ken-kuri@dpc.agu.ac.jp.
authors: Kenichi
authors: K
authors: Kurita
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan. Electronic address: ozaki-n@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
authors: Norio
authors: N
authors: Ozaki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002054:Burning Mouth Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D002605:Character; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013694:Temperament
keywords: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); Burning mouth syndrome (BMS); Novelty seeking (NS); Pain disorder; Personality trait; Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI)