title: Mechanisms of acute pain: an update.
abstract: Dentists are faced with human suffering generated by dental diseases and treatments on a daily basis. This exposure to suffering has resulted in the dental practitioner's constant pursuit of more efficacious ways to decrease their patient's acute pain experience. Expertise in the administration of local anesthetics and the use of nitrous oxide/oxygen inhalation sedation were born from this pursuit. Advances in the management of acute pain will follow an improved understanding of the physiology of acute pain, the physiology of the immune system and their interaction. Indeed, their interaction has become a productive area of investigation. This article reports on promising new developments in acute pain research. Our current understanding offers a few new recommendations and a vision of a less painful experience associated with dental diseases and their treatments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Anesthesiology, Loma Linda University School of Dentistry, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Larry D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Trapp
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000378:metabolism; D009619:Nociceptors / Q000502:physiology; D018847:Opioid Peptides / Q000096:biosynthesis; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017933:Peripheral Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D020671:Posterior Horn Cells / Q000502:physiology; D011957:Receptors, Opioid / Q000502:physiology; D014275:Trigeminal Caudal Nucleus / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000779:Anesthetics, Local; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D018847:Opioid Peptides; D011957:Receptors, Opioid