Acupuncture on Management of Post-Traumatic Trigeminal Neuropathic Pain: A 24-Month Follow-Up Case Report

Neuropathic pain and its high impact on patient's quality of life, must be thoroughly assessed to be adequately managed. Unfortunately, there remains a lack of evidence for different treatment options that could improve the quality of life of those patients. Beyond first-choice therapies, complementary integrative therapies can emerge as a highly valuable option for controlling chronic pain. Thus, the aim of this study was to report a case of acupuncture utilized to manage chronic neuropathic pain associated with sensory loss following trauma after dental implant surgery. A 41-year-old female patient presented with a complaint of left-sided intraoral pain (visual analogic scale [VAS] = 9) in the posterior mandibula region over the last year following a dental implant surgery. On physical examination, the patient exhibited hypoesthesia in the region identified by qualitative somatosensory tests. The implant showed no clinical or tomographic alterations. The initial diagnosis was probable post-traumatic neuropathic pain (PTNP). As the patient opted against initiating central-acting medications, five sessions of acupuncture were performed. Following the proposed treatment, there was a significant reduction in the patient's pain report (VAS = 1) and a significant decrease in the sensory loss area. We can therefore conclude, that in this case, the use of acupuncture was effective in controlling pain and significantly reducing the sensory loss area caused by PTNP.