RESUMEN
Introduction: Drug-induced open bite is one of the extrapyramidal symptoms with abnormal tonus of muscles and is rarely recognized in dentistry. This is a retrospective case study to investigate clinical characteristics including detailed complaints in patients with drug-induced open bite. Methods: Of the outpatients who first visited the psychosomatic dental clinic at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital between September 2013 and September 2022, the patients diagnosed with drug-induced open bite were involved in this study. The clinical characteristics including sex, age, detailed complaints, duration of illness, abnormal findings, psychotropic medications, and other medications that were taken at the first examination, psychiatric comorbidities, the duration of psychiatric diseases, and other medical histories were collected retrospectively by reviewing their medical chart. Results: Drug-induced open bite was found in 11 patients [women: 7, men: 4, median of age: 49 (36.5, 53) years old]. Difficulty in eating especially chewing was the major complaint (9/11, 81.6%) with the duration of illness as 48.0 (16.5, 66) months. Various degrees of open bite were observed. While some showed no occlusal contact on frontal teeth, some showed occlusal contact only on the second molars; moreover, the jaw showed a horizontal slide in a few patients. Three cases could be followed up for prognosis; while in one case the drug-induced open bite improved with 6 months of follow-up, two cases did not improve, and one showed extrusion of molars. All of them had psychiatric comorbidities with the most common diagnosis being schizophrenia (n = 5) and depression (n = 5) followed by insomnia (n = 1) and autism spectrum disorder (n = 1) including duplicated diagnosis. Nine patients (81.6%) had been undergoing treatment with antipsychotics of which three patients were also taking antidepressants. Discussion: Although a drug-induced open bite is a rare symptom, prudent medical interviews about symptoms, psychiatric comorbidities, and psychotropic medication history besides oral assessment are necessary to provide a precise diagnosis and appropriate management in collaboration between dentists and psychiatrists.
RESUMEN
Phantom bite syndrome (PBS), also called occlusal dysesthesia, is characterized by persistent non-verifiable occlusal discrepancies. Such erroneous and unshakable belief of a "wrong bite" might impel patients to visit multiple dental clinics to meet their requirements to their satisfaction. Subsequently, it takes a toll on their quality of life causing, career disruption, financial loss and suicidal thoughts. In general, patients with PBS are quite rare but distinguishable if ever encountered. Since Marbach reported the first two cases in 1976, there have been dozens of published cases regarding this phenomenon, but only a few original studies were conducted. Despite the lack of official classification and guidelines, many authors agreed on the existence of a PBS "consistent pattern" that clinicians should be made aware. Nevertheless, the treatment approach has been solely based on incomplete knowledge of etiology, in which none of the proposed theories are fully explained in all the available cases. In this review, we have discussed the critical role of enhancing dental professionals' awareness of this phenomenon and suggested a comprehensive approach for PBS, provided by a multidisciplinary team of dentists, psychiatrists and exclusive psychotherapists.