She wants to reduce facial and jaw pain in young people

A digital pain management program for adolescents with jaw pain has received positive feedback from patients. Following a pilot study at specialist clinics, EwaCarin Ekberg and Psykologpartners—who developed the tool—now aim to roll it out to general dentists, health clinics, and high school health services. 

Stress, anxiety, and dissatisfaction with life can take a toll on the jaw and face. An estimated 10 to 15 percent of adolescents and adults experience jaw and facial pain. Among 17- to 19-year-olds, the proportion is nearly 20 percent. The pain can in turn lead to various forms of suffering, such as high rates of school absenteeism, reduced activity, isolation from family and friends, depression, and anxiety. And pain that goes untreated runs the risk of developing into chronic and more difficult-to-treat pain in adulthood, with increasing costs for society.  

Since psychological stress is one of the main causes of jaw pain, the National Board of Health and Welfare has recommended behavioral therapy—which empowers patients to prevent future pain—in its national guidelines for dental care.   

The pain management program is called E-health/Pain–Stress (ESS) and has recently been tested at six specialist clinics in bite physiology in Sweden with good results. The aim of the program is to help young people up to the age of 19 to be less hindered by their pain. By increasing their understanding of why they experience pain and educating them on what they can do about it themselves.  

– Few participants became completely pain-free, but several young people experienced significantly less pain. They reported that the program helped them understand and manage their pain, see the connection between stress and pain, and understand the importance of living life and starting to do fun things even when in pain,” says EwaCarin Ekberg, professor at Malmö University and specialist in occlusal physiology at the Department of Orofacial Pain and Jaw Function. 

EwaCarin Ekberg developed ESS in collaboration with doctoral student Tessa Bijelic and CBT psychologists Jenny Katalinic, David Brohede, and Linnea Helfrich at the firm Psykologpartners.  

“We had the privilege of helping the School of Dentistry develop a program for young people with pain issues and assisting this group in alleviating their problems and improving their quality of life,” says Jenny Katalinic of Psykologpartners. 

Psykologpartners developed and adapted texts, produced videos explaining how psychological factors interact with pain, and filmed demonstration videos showing young people how to perform movement and relaxation exercises. The program is based on what each young person considers important in their life. 

“We took an exploratory approach, using workshops and user involvement to ensure the content was relevant to the target audience,” says Jenny Katalinic.  

The Pain School consists of short videos featuring various exercises that patients can follow along with on their phone, computer, or tablet. Common ailments are illustrated by three fictional, animated characters. 

“The animated characters are probably the key to the show’s success. You get to see how they deal with their situation, how they process different things, and how they feel afterward. The animations make the show much more accessible,” says EwaCarin Ekberg.