The Journal of the American Dental Association
-
Comparative Study
The application of facial expressions to the assessment of orofacial pain in cognitively impaired older adults.
The anticipated rapid growth in the number of cognitively impaired older adults, declining edentulism and increasing oral health expectations suggest a greater need for comprehensive dental care and effective ways to evaluate orofacial pain in people with compromised mental function and impaired communication skills. The authors conducted a study to evaluate facial expressions as a means of identifying orofacial pain in cognitively impaired and cognitively intact older adults, compared with other available pain assessment tools. ⋯ Changes in facial expression proved to be the most useful measure overall in identifying pain in both cognitively intact and cognitively impaired older patients. This measure appeared to be more sensitive in cognitively impaired patients because they demonstrated fewer facial movements in anticipation of pain stimuli.