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Comparison of patients with orofacial pain of different diagnostic categories
Hiroyuki Karibe1, Greg Goddard, Charles McNeill
1Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Life Dentistry, Nippon Dental University, 1-9-20 Fujimi Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-8159 Japan. h-karibe@tky.ndu.ac.jp
Abstract:
The authors compared the pain intensity and difficulty experienced in performing activities of daily living (ADL) among 237 patients with orofacial pain. The patients underwent comprehensive examinations and recorded their subjective symptoms on a form (five items for pain intensity and six for ADL-related difficulty). On the basis of the primary diagnosis, the patients were divided into the temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ), myofascial pain (MP), neuropathic pain (NP), and fibromyalgia (FM) groups. The intensity of pain in the jaw/face, tightness in the jaw/face, pain in the neck, and toothache significantly differed among the groups (p < 0.01, Kruskal-Wallis test). Compared to other patients, the FM and NP groups reported greater pain intensity, whereas those in the TMJ group reported lesser pain intensity. The ADL-related difficulty was not significantly different among the groups. Thus, compared to pain due to joint-related disorders, myalgic and neuropathic pain seem to be of higher intensity.
