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Updated: Aug 20, 2026
Assessment of Nerve Injury-Induced Mechanical Hypersensitivity in Rats Using an Orofacial Operant Pain Assay
Published on: July 26, 2022
Clinical study of patients with persistent orofacial pain
José Tadeu Tesseroli de Siqueira1, Hui Ching Lin, Cibele Nasri
1Dentistry Division, Hospital das Clínicas, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. jtts@uol.com.br
Objective:
[corrected] To evaluate a sample of patients with persistent facial pain unresponsive to prior treatments.
Methods:
Hospital records of 26 patients with persistent facial pain were reviewed (20 female and 6 male).
Results:
Patients were classified into three groups according to their presenting symptoms: a)Group I, eight patients (30.7%) with severe, diffuse pain at the face, teeth or head; b)Group II, eight patients (30.7%) with chronic non-myofascial pain and; c)Group III, ten patients with chronic myofascial pain (38.4%). We find 11 different diagnoses among the 26 patients: pulpitis(7), leukemia(1), oropharyngeal tumor(1), atypical odontalgia(1), Eagle's syndrome(1), trigeminal neuralgia(4), continuous neuralgia(1), temporomandibular disorders (9), fibromyalgia (2), tension-type headache(1), conversion hysteria(2). After the treatment program all patients had a six-month follow-up period with pain relief, except the patient with tumor.
Conclusion:
The wide variability of orofacial pain diagnosis (benign to life-threatening diseases) indicates the necessity to reevaluate patients presenting recurrent pain that is refractory to the usual treatments.
