title: Pain relief can be painful.
abstract: Mandibular nerve block is periodically used procedure used to treat neuralgic pain in the distribution of trigeminal nerve. It is a commonly performed block in outpatient settings at our institute. We present a case of an elderly edentulous patient with trigeminal neuralgia who suffered recurrent temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dislocation following mandibular nerve block. The patient presented with complaints of severe pain, inability to close mouth, and eat food since 2 days. Anterior closed reduction of TMJ resulted in reduction of joint and immediate pain relief. However, the maneuver failed due to recurrent dislocation of the joint. A Barton dressing was applied to prevent another dislocation. This was followed by autologous blood injection into the joint. This case focuses on the preponderance of clinical evaluation and accentuates the need for additional forethought to be taken during pain procedures, particularly in the geriatric population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroanesthesiology, All Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Ashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bindra
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroanesthesiology, All Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Parmod
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bithal
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroanesthesiology, All Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Navdeep
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sokhal
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, All Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Ankit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arora
keywords: Complication; Management; Mandibular nerve block complication; Neuralgia; Painful temporomandibular joint dislocation