All About Orofacial Pain
- Orofacial Pain as a recognized dental specialty
- Importance of understanding orofacial pain assessment, diagnosis, and treatment
Evaluation of Orofacial Pain Patients:
- Medical and Dental History
- Gathering detailed information on medical and dental background
- Chief Complaint and Pain History
- Factors to consider: pain quality, duration, affected side, initiating/exacerbating/relieving factors, associated symptoms
- Physical Examination
- Vital signs, intraoral examination, head & neck examination, cranial nerve assessment
- Radiological and Other Special Investigations
- Cranial nerve screening examination, laboratory blood examination, MRI, bone scan
Definition of Pain and Classification by Origin:
- Pain as an unpleasant sensation transmitted to the central nervous system
- Classification into three main categories: somatic pain, neuropathic pain, and psychogenic pain
Causes of Orofacial Pain:
I) Local Causes (Somatic)- Diseases affecting teeth, periodontium, oral mucosa, jaws, antrum, salivary glands, TMJ, ears, eyes, sinuses, nasopharynx
- Trigeminal Neuralgia, Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia, Herpes Zoster, Post Herpetic Neuralgia, Geniculate Herpes, Bell's Palsy, Intracranial Tumors, Causalgia
- Atypical Odontalgia, Atypical Facial Pain, Burning Mouth Syndrome
- IV) Vascular Causes
Free for members
Keep reading — it's free
The rest of this article is open to DentalReach members. Create a free account, or sign in, and every article on the site opens in full.