Care seeking for orofacial pain.

Aims: To determine the contribution of a wide range of factors to care-seeking behavior in orofacial pain patients, expressed as (A) decision to seek care and (B) number of health care practitioners visited.

Methods: Subjects with orofacial pain complaints were recruited in seven TMD clinics and from a nonclinical population sample. They received a questionnaire including a wide range of possible predictors. To study which predictive variables were associated with the decision to seek care and with the number of health care practitioners visited, multiple regression models were built.

Results: Two hundred three persons with orofacial pain participated in the study. Of these participants, 169 (140 females) had visited at least one health care practitioner (care seekers), while the other 34 persons (25 females) did not (non-care seekers). The decision to seek care was not only associated with the pain intensity (P < .05), but, in women, also with fear of jaw movements (P < .01): Women with more fear of jaw movements were more likely to seek care. Pain intensity and disability were not associated with the number of health care practitioners visited. Instead, the main predictors were catastrophizing (P = .004) and the use of painkillers (P = .008).

Conclusions: Pain intensity and fear of jaw movements play an important role in the decision to seek care for orofacial pain. The continuous search for help is associated with catastrophizing and the use of painkillers.