Clinical study of patients with persistent orofacial pain.
OBJECTIVE
[corrected] To evaluate a sample of patients with persistent facial pain unresponsive to prior treatments.


METHODS
Hospital records of 26 patients with persistent facial pain were reviewed (20 female and 6 male).


RESULTS
Patients were classified into three groups according to their presenting symptoms: a)Group I, eight patients (30.7%) with severe, diffuse pain at the face, teeth or head; b)Group II, eight patients (30.7%) with chronic non-myofascial pain and; c)Group III, ten patients with chronic myofascial pain (38.4%). We find 11 different diagnoses among the 26 patients: pulpitis(7), leukemia(1), oropharyngeal tumor(1), atypical odontalgia(1), Eagle's syndrome(1), trigeminal neuralgia(4), continuous neuralgia(1), temporomandibular disorders (9), fibromyalgia (2), tension-type headache(1), conversion hysteria(2). After the treatment program all patients had a six-month follow-up period with pain relief, except the patient with tumor.


CONCLUSIONS
The wide variability of orofacial pain diagnosis (benign to life-threatening diseases) indicates the necessity to reevaluate patients presenting recurrent pain that is refractory to the usual treatments.
Siqueira
José Tadeu Tesseroli de
JT
Dentistry Division, Hospital das Clínicas, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. jtts@uol.com.br
Lin
Hui Ching
HC
Nasri
Cibele
C
Siqueira
Silvia Regina Dowgan Tesseroli de
SR
Teixeira
Manoel Jacobsen
MJ
Heir
Gary
G
Valle
Luís Biela S
LB
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011671:Pulpitis / Q000175:diagnosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013705:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014277:Trigeminal Neuralgia / Q000175:diagnosis