Investigation of the relationship between subthressive obsessive compulsory symptoms and tic disorder in individuals with bruxism

Purpose: With this study, it is planned to investigate the relationship between bruxism and obsessive compulsive symptomatology and to answer the question of whether bruxism can be defined within the framework of OCSD. Materials and Methods: According to the history and clinical examination, 80 patients with bruxism between the ages of 18-65 who were diagnosed with bruxism and volunteered to participate in the study, and 78 patients with OCD between the ages of 18-65 who were diagnosed with OCD in the clinical evaluation made according to DSM-5 were included in the study. 82 healthy volunteers who were sociodemographically matched to the patient groups, did not have mental disorders, and gave written consent to participate in the study were recruited. They were performed Bruxism Questionnaire, Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (MOCI), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7). The Yale General Tic Severity Rating Scale was filled in by the psychiatrist during the individual psychiatric interview with the patient. Bruxism Evaluation Form was filled by the dentist after the clinical examination in the bruxism group. Results: There was a significant difference between the groups in terms of age and gender. When the groups were compared in terms of obsessive-compulsive symptom scores, MOCI score and Checking, Cleanliness, Slowness, Suspicion and Rumination subscale scores were significantly different between the groups. When the anxiety and depression scores of the groups were statistically controlled, a significant difference was found in the MOCI score and Cleanliness, Slowness, Suspicion, Checking and Rumination subscale scores in the OCD group compared to the other groups. When the anxiety and depression scores of the groups were statistically controlled, a significant difference was found in the MOCI score and the Checking subscale score in the Bruxism group compared to the control group, and a borderline significance was found in the Rumination subscale score. When the total tic scores were compared between the groups, a significant difference was found. When the groups were compared in terms of PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores, a significant difference was found between the groups. When the groups were compared according to the Bruxism Questionnaire results, a significant difference was found between the groups. Discussion: This study reveals common aspects between bruxism and obsessive-compulsive spectrum in terms of both clinical and demographic and etiopathogenesis, and reveals important findings regarding its place in psychiatric classification. The relationship between bruxism and psychiatry was mostly evaluated within the framework of stress and anxiety, and its relations with other psychopathologies remained in the background. In our study, obsessive-compulsive symptom levels were found to be significantly higher in bruxism patients. When we statistically controlled depression and anxiety in our study, the persistence of its significance in obsessive-compulsive symptom levels reveals that obsessive-compulsive symptoms are at least as important as stress and anxiety in the psychosocial factors of bruxism. Bruxism should be placed in a certain place in the classification in the field of psychiatry, as in neurology and dentistry. Thus, it can be expected that treatments to be carried out with this point of view will promise better results, especially in cases that do not respond to known treatments in the clinical setting. However, more work is needed on this subject. Key Words: Bruxism, obsession, compulsion, classification