Oral and maxillofacial surgery clinics of North America
-
Oral Maxillofac Surg Clin North Am · Aug 2008
ReviewDeep space neck infection: principles of surgical management.
Knowledge of the management of infections of the deep spaces of the neck is essential to the daily practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery. Timely decisions must be made through the acute course of the disease. ⋯ To make these decisions the surgeon must understand the anatomy of the region and the etiology of infection, appropriate diagnostic workup, and medical and surgical management. This article provides a review of these pertinent topics.
-
Fractures of the larynx are uncommon injuries that may be associated with maxillofacial trauma. Clinicians treating maxillofacial injuries should be familiar with the signs and symptoms of laryngeal fractures and with proper airway management. A timely evaluation of the larynx, rapid airway intervention, and proper surgical repair are essential for a successful outcome.
-
Oral Maxillofac Surg Clin North Am · May 2008
ReviewBurning mouth syndrome: recognition, understanding, and management.
Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) can be a frustrating condition to the patient and the practitioner because the patient often experiences a continuous burning pain in the mouth without any apparent clinical signs, but the practitioner is unable to definitively diagnose symptoms even with the use of diagnostic testing or imaging. To overcome this dilemma, it is important for the practitioner to recognize and understand the complexities of BMS. The practitioner can then develop a sound approach to management of this condition and patients can be educated and reassured regarding BMS.
-
Neuropathic orofacial pain is a general term employed to describe a number of clinical syndromes, which may be spontaneous or triggered by local trauma or systemic disorders. Symptomatically these painful syndromes may be episodic or continuous and are often difficult to distinguish from dental pathology. In the present article, we review the diagnosis, pathophysiology and therapeutic approaches to trigeminal and glossopharyngeal neuralgias, orofacial pain associated with herpetic infection, persistent idiopathic facial pain (previously termed atypical facial pain), post-traumatic orofacial neuropathy and neuritis.
-
Oral Maxillofac Surg Clin North Am · May 2008
Technological devices in the diagnosis of temporomandibular disorders.
Claims have been made that certain diagnostic devices should be routinely used to differentiate between jaw dysfunction and normal variation and between various pathologic conditions of the temporomandibular joint. The claims that jaw-tracking devices have diagnostic value for detecting TMD are not well supported by the scientific evidence. ⋯ Claims for the use of sonography and vibratography machines to discriminate between various intracapsular TMJ conditions have not been substantiated by well-designed research. Until acceptable levels of technical and diagnostic validity have been clearly established, these diagnostic devices cannot be relied on as aids in differential diagnosis or in clinical decision making in the TMD field.