What is orofacial pain? – Orofacial Pain Treatment Delhi
Orofacial pain is a group of debilitating conditions that causes pain mainly affecting the head, neck, and facial region. There are various causes of orofacial pain, some of which are special, and a few are atypical. It takes sound knowledge for the clinician to accurately diagnose and formulate a customized treatment plan for orofacial pain. A multidisciplinary approach is usually adopted by our team to combat the condition effectively. The information below will briefly discuss the causes and ways to manage orofacial pain.
Causes of orofacial pain
Dental conditions
Dental conditions include a variety of situations involving the teeth, gums, and surrounding tissues. Dental pain can be in any tooth, including the wisdom tooth. The pain can be limited to that tooth or radiating in nature. Wisdom tooth pain generally radiates to the neck, ear, and temple region.
TMD conditions
The temporomandibular joint, or the TMJ, is the joint that connects the jaw with the skull. Any pain in the TMJ is referred to as temporomandibular joint disorder. The cause of TMD can be defective occlusion (how teeth meet each other) or any defect in the ligament or capsule of the joint. Sometimes the cause of TMD is due to the problem in the surrounding muscles that causes the opening and closing of the jaw.
Neuropathic conditions
The two main types of nerve pains or neuralgias are trigeminal neuralgia and glossopharyngeal neuralgia. The cause of neuropathic pain is mainly damage or trigger leading to the deterioration of the concerned nerve. The pain is generally sharp shooting and is caused by specific stimuli.
Atypical facial pain
Sometimes the cause of orofacial pain is not specific, and this chronic unexplained pain affects the jaws, cheeks, tongue, and ears. It is a challenging condition to diagnose and frustrating for the individual experiencing it.
Management of orofacial pain
For dental conditions
The treatment mainly depends on the root cause of pain due to dental diseases. If the toothache is the cause of the orofacial pain, the clinician must find the cause of the toothache before formulating the customized treatment plan. Root canal therapy is the most common procedure deployed to relieve the pain.
For TMD conditions – Orofacial Pain Treatment East Delhi
For TMD conditions, it is crucial to analyze the condition radiographically. The choice of radiographs includes X-RAY, MRI, and CT scans that help the doctor better understand the cause of TMD pain. The treatment for TMD is either conservative management or surgical intervention. Surgical treatment is usually the last resort and is deployed only when other ways of conservative management have failed to combat the pain.
For neuropathic consditions
For neuropathic pain, the management is mainly medications that help relieve the symptoms. The surgical decompression is planned in cases when it is confirmed that the cause of pain is compression of the involved nerve.
For atypical facial pain
Anticonvulsants or antidepressants are the main lines of drugs used to treat atypical facial pain. Cognitive behavioral therapy is another effective way of managing the atypical facial pain
