Seeking the mechanisms behind jaw and face pain
Chronic pain in the jaws and face affects people of all ages and can severely impair their quality of life, work capacity and mental health. Nikolaos Christidis is looking for answers as to what causes the pain and ways to help improve treatments. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 9 October.
Text: Karin Tideström, for KI’s installation ceremony booklet 2025
What are you researching?
“My research focuses on chronic orofacial pain and abnormalities in jaw function, particularly the muscular mechanisms. By analysing bodily fluids, muscle samples and different pain models, we’re trying to understand what causes the pain and how we can treat it more effectively. I’ve also studied arthritis in the jaws of children with rheumatism and how orofacial pain in young people is related to schoolwork, physical exercise and screen time. Another research track of mine concerns pedagogy in professional training.”
What have your studies shown you?
“Women generally report more chronic pain than men, which is partly due to biological differences. Women have more pain-transmitting receptors in their muscles, for instance. In children and adolescents, orofacial pain can be linked to ill-health, depression, anxiety and difficulties in school. We’ve also been able to identify different biomarkers involved in orofacial pain along with a substance, granisetron, which has a promising efficacy when it comes to relieving orofacial muscle pain.”
What’s your next step?
“I’ll carry on developing my various research tracks and right now am looking into how pain-transmitting receptors in the jaw muscles affect orofacial pain and how pain and pain therapy affect chewing. A large study is also underway in Stockholm, in which 800 children are being monitored to see which ones are at risk of developing pain and other problems in the face and jaws. The aim is a better quality of life for people with pain conditions, especially children. In the educational track, we’re following student health during their studies to help make professional training more sustainable.”
About Nikolaos Christidis
Professor of Clinical Oral Physiology at the Department of Dental Medicine
Nikolaos Christidis was born in 1978 in Stockholm. He graduated in dental medicine at Karolinska Institutet in 2002, earning his PhD in 2010 and becoming a specialist in stomatognathic physiology in 2011. He is currently director of the dentistry programme at Karolinska Institutet and chair of the Neuroscience Group at the International Association of Dental Research. He is also an honorary member of the Stockholm Dental Society. Nikolaos Christidis was appointed Professor at Karolinska Institutet on 20 December 2024.