[Pain education for patients with chronic facial pain]

In dental practice, it regularly happens: a patient presents with a prolonged pain complaint where there appears to be no sign of tissue damage (any longer). Patients with chronic facial pain may be experiencing altered nociception. This is associated with processes of sensitization and impaired signal inhibition in the somatosensory system. This exceptional kind of pain, known as nociplastic pain, is relatively uncommon in dental literature. Treatment of chronic pain requires a different approach to pain, in which understanding how a (dys)functional bodily warning signal system operates plays a key role. Pain education can be utilized in general dentistry in support of this approach.