‘Chew On This’ – The Association Between Teeth Grinding and Neuroticism
Jenny Galvao
According to research by Angelina Sutin of the National Institute on Aging and her associates, there is a relationship between certain personality traits and the body language act of grinding one’s teeth, referred to as bruxism.
Neuroticism traits were associated with teeth grinding, which is not very surprising, seeing as a link has already been established between anxiety and depression (traits related to neuroticism) being potential causes of bruxism. Interestingly, these traits are also associated with other problematic dental issues such as clicking of the jaw, a dry mouth, and even difficulty chewing food. However, these traits were unrelated to the broader oral issues like bloody gums, canker sores, and unhealthy gums.
“Individuals who scored high on either Emotional Stability or Objectivity were less likely to report that they grind their teeth. These two traits were also associated with other anxiety-related oral symptoms, but were unrelated to more global, self-reported oral complaints. Neither trait, however, was related to the physical damage to teeth or the tongue often attributed to bruxism, nor were they related to dentist-assessed health of the teeth and gums,” the researchers elaborate.
In this experiment, participants completed a self-report questionnaire about their dental history and took part in a personality measure. After the self-report questionnaires, the participants also completed a dental examination.
The dental assessment questionnaire examined the history of oral hygiene habits, treatments, and complaints. Participants were asked to rate the occurrence of teeth grinding, jaw clicks, dry mouth, canker sores, bleeding gums, difficulty chewing, and unhealthy gums. After this and the personality measure, the participants completed the oral examination, which was done by a professional dentist.
The researchers not only found that traits related to neuroticism were linked to teeth grinding, but also that the specific trait sociability was associated with much less teeth grinding.
“Individuals high on Neuroticism-related traits consistently report more somatic complaints than individuals low on Neuroticism. The association, however, between Neuroticism and physical illness is much weaker than its association with somatic complaints; this discrepancy suggests that trait Neuroticism biases symptom reporting,” the researchers point out.
Clearly, individuals who prove to be higher in anxiety and emotional instability are more prone to grinding their teeth and even for experiencing other somatic issues. However, it is important to note that people who are higher in neuroticism and its related traits are more prone to complain about somatic and other physical ailments than the individuals who are lower in these traits.
Even with this taken into consideration, it’s apparent that teeth grinding, and other oral issues can be a result of emotional instability or related traits. Your personality is unique, but the results of your behaviour can be very common, and these observable, nonverbal behaviours (like teeth grinding) can give away a lot about who you are!
About the Author: Jenny Galvao is an undergraduate student at the University of Guelph studying psychology.
Resource
Sutin, A. R., Terracciano, A., Ferrucci, L., & Costa, P. T. Teeth grinding: Is emotional stability related to bruxism? Journal of Research in Personality. 2019. 44(3), 402-405. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2019.03.006