Oro Facial Pain

Any pain in the area of the mouth and face, lasting longer than three weeks, can be termed chronic orofacial pain, but mostly the term is reserved for pain of obscure origin, not obvious to the untrained eye.

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is only one of many chronic orofacial pain conditions. Some people incorrectly use the term to describe or classify all chronic orofacial conditions. It is a specific condition of very severe,sharp, shooting, pain of uknown origin. 

Atypical facial pain is a vague archaic term not used by modern specialists. 

There are several dental conditions which can cause pain in the head and face, in site remote to the affected teeth.

Diseases such as sinusitis, cardiac vascular insufficiency, and brain tumours can also rarely present as toothache. 

The treatment is dependent upon the diagnosis, the most important part of the treatment. A proper diagnosis can only be made after a detailed consultation consisting of the taking of a history and clinical examination. This may be supplemented by specialised investigations such as 3D scans.

Grinding of teeth (bruxism) can cause severe and complex chronic orofacial pain.

There are thousands of cases on record where apparent headaches or other "obscure" orofacial pain had in fact been caused by a "simple" toothache. In these cases a root canal treatment or tooth extraction alleviates the pain.

Only a few chronic orofacial pain conditions require surgical intervention. No patient shall undergo surgery unless all other possible causes have been ruled out.