The Use of the Grimacing Face Emoji and its Relation to Bruxism and Temporomandibular Joint Disorders

Certain aspects of a person's health and well-being may be revealed from how they communicate. Emojis play nowadays an important role in computer-mediated interactions, and are used every day by a large number of people as a means to convey emotions and meaning. We investigate the use of a specific emoji, the grimacing face (GF) emoji 😬, and its association with the presence of two medical conditions involving the act of jaw clenching depicted on it: Bruxism and Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMJD). We collect and analyze survey responses from 261 individuals. Our results unveil a significant but weak association between bruxism/TMJD diagnosis and self-reported GF emoji use.