Multimodal Assessment of Body Pain in Orofacial Pain Patients

. Patients with complaints of orofacial pain (OFP) often have other body pain, yet many do not report these to their providers. Uncontrolled pain at any location may impact the successful management of an OFP complaint. The objective of this study was to determine the number of pain regions throughout the body, and the underreporting of pain, in patients who presented to a tertiary military OFP clinic.

A retrospective chart review was conducted on 423 consecutive new patients. Patients were given three assessment opportunities to report their pain on a whole-body pain map: 1) prior to evaluation (Pt1), 2) following an explanatory statement by their provider on the relationship between pain and prognosis (Pt2), and 3) during directed pain inquiry of specific body regions (Pro). The pain map was divided into nine anatomical regions that were assessed for the presence of pain after Pt1, Pt2, and Pro.

Initially, 60.5% of patients did not report all pain locations (Pt1). Following the explanatory statement (Pt2), 30.5% still did not report all pain. Following the completion of all assessment methods, the most commonly reported number of pain regions was five (17.0%), and 91.5% of patients reported multiple pain regions.

Most patients had multiple pain complaints outside the chief complaint, yet the majority did not report these until multiple forms of assessment were utilized. These data encourage the use of a pain map, a verbal pain explanation, and directed pain questioning to more accurately capture pain location and facilitate multidisciplinary care.