[Interdisciplinary investigations on the criticism of the term 'anesthesia dolorosa']

3291 patients with facial pain and/or complaints in the orofacial region were examined from 1972-1988 by both the maxillofacial surgeon and the neurologist at the departments of maxillofacial surgery and psychosomatic medicine of the Zentrum für Zahn-, Mund- und Kieferkrankheiten of the University of Münster. Only 27 cases of genuine trigeminal neuralgia could be found in those 17 years. At the same time, however, 31 patients presented with anaesthesia dolorosa after various operations on the fifth cranial nerve. Referring to the criteria set up by Marxkors and Müller-Fahlbusch (1981) these findings were based on psychosomatic diseases. Thus, any indication for an operation on the trigeminal nerve should be very carefully reconsidered.