Phantom bite revisited

Phantom bite: a case report and literature review

“…Providing reassurance to the patient that there is no problem with their occlusion often further amplifies the patients' frustration and distress. 7 A few authors have provided diagnostic criteria for phantom bite in the literature. A recent systemic review of the literature provided the unified diagnostic criteria for phantom bite that is illustrated in Table 1.…”

Pain and persistent occlusal awareness

“…Normal minor or questionable occlusal findings that are associated with disproportionate patient distress can indicate a need to refer the patient for psychological or psychiatric evaluation. 3,5,8,20,21 …”

“…This change in the CNS produces symptoms in the orofacial region similar to those observed in phantom limb phenomena. 4,5,8,10-12 When minor or clinically nonverifiable occlusal discrepancies are the patient's primary concern—especially when the patient has a history of undergoing unsuccessful dental treatment—clinicians should consider the potential of a psychological overlay or comorbid psychiatric conditions. 9,13-16 …”

Psychiatric comorbidities and psychopharmacological outcomes of phantom bite syndrome

“…They nomadically visit various dentists seeking "bite correction" because of their strong belief in dental treatment despite possible symptom exacerbation [1]. PBS has been regarded as a psychiatric disorder [1,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]related to paranoia, personality disorder, or somatoform disorder, while some authors have suggested proprioceptive dysfunction, false peripheral feed-back [12], or phantom occlusal sensation in the central nervous system [13][14][15][16][17] as possible etiologies. However, little is known about its psychiatric comorbidities [10,18].…”

“…However, little is known about its psychiatric comorbidities [10,18]. The management of PBS includes referral for psychological evaluation [1,5,6] and avoiding occlusal adjustment [3,11,12]. Antipsychotic drugs [1,3,6,11,12] and antidepressants [19][20][21][22][23][24][25] have been reported to be effective, but pharmacological evidence from clinical studies is lacking.…”