The Association Between Motivation and Pain in Patients Undergoing Orthodontic Treatment

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Success in orthodontic treatment is achieved by using devices and techniques to minimize patient discomfort. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between treatment motivation and pain intensity reported by the patient in the early stages of orthodontic treatment. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 194 orthodontic candidates for fixed treatment were included. In the first part, the patients’ motivation was measured using a 27-item researcher-made questionnaire with 5 sections related to the patient’s motivation. In the second part, patients’ pain intensity was recorded using a pain visual analog scale (VAS). The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 26. Results: Findings suggested that the highest and lowest motivation scores were related to the importance of occlusion (91.75±12.79) and the degree of understanding of the problem (66.39±22.44), respectively. No statistically significant difference was observed between the components of motivation by gender, marital status, employment status, age, and smoking (P>0.05). Moreover, there was no significant association between the intensity of dental pain and any treatment motivation components. However, there was a statistically negative correlation between the intensity of mucosal pain and the understanding of the treatment process. Conclusion: No significant relationship between treatment motivation and pain intensity was reported by patients in the early stages of orthodontic treatment. Orthodontists are encouraged to increase their flexibility and patient management skills to avert their patients’ desire to cease their therapy due to intrusive factors such as pain.

Keywords

• pain intensity
• treatment motivation
• orthodontics