title: Somatosensory investigation of patients with orofacial pain compared with controls.
abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate the sensorial characteristics of orofacial pain in patients compared with control subjects. A total of 336 subjects (282 patients and 54 control subjects) were evaluated to identify their thermal (cold and warm), tactile, and pain thresholds. Numbness was reported by 61.7% of the patients (p<0.001). Patients with trigeminal postherpetic neuralgia and burning mouth syndrome showed loss of thermal perception; patients with postherpetic neuralgia, burning mouth syndrome, and posttraumatic painful neuropathy had a decrease in tactile perception compared with the control subjects (p<0.001). In conclusion, other sensorial modalities besides pain are affected by neuropathic orofacial pain; these findings can help in the understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms in orofacial pain.
authors.affiliation: From the School of Arts, Science and Humanities (SRDTdS); Neurology Department, School of Medicine (MJT); and Dentistry Division, Hospital das Clinicas, School of Medicine (JTTdS), University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Silvia R D T
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: de Siqueira
authors.affiliation: From the School of Arts, Science and Humanities (SRDTdS); Neurology Department, School of Medicine (MJT); and Dentistry Division, Hospital das Clinicas, School of Medicine (JTTdS), University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Manoel J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.affiliation: From the School of Arts, Science and Humanities (SRDTdS); Neurology Department, School of Medicine (MJT); and Dentistry Division, Hospital das Clinicas, School of Medicine (JTTdS), University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jose T T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: de Siqueira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002054:Burning Mouth Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D006930:Hyperalgesia; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D014110:Touch; D014277:Trigeminal Neuralgia / Q000503:physiopathology*