Oral Surg Oral Med O
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Oral Surg Oral Med O · Apr 2003
ReviewThe management of acute dental pain in the recovering alcoholic.
Although there have been many advances in our understanding of the neurophysiology of pain, the management of acute pain continues to be a challenge. When the need arises to provide adequate and effective pain management for the recovering alcoholic, the problem becomes much more complex. ⋯ In the US, 6% to 10% of the population has attended Alcoholics Anonymous at some point, increasing the likelihood of the clinician being faced with the need to manage acute pain in a recovering alcoholic. The purpose of this article is to suggest guidelines for the management of acute dental pain in the recovering alcoholic based on current principles of acute pain management and for the treatment of pain in addicted patients.
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Oral Surg Oral Med O · Apr 2003
Comparative StudyRelative odds of temporomandibular joint pain as a function of magnetic resonance imaging findings of internal derangement, osteoarthrosis, effusion, and bone marrow edema.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether common magnetic resonance (MR) imaging variables such as temporomandibular joint (TMJ) internal derangement, osteoarthrosis, effusion, and bone marrow edema are predictive of the presence of TMJ pain. ⋯ The results suggest that TMJ pain is related to internal derangement, osteoarthrosis, effusion, and bone marrow edema. However, the data reemphasize that these MR imaging variables may not be regarded as the unique and dominant factors in defining TMJ pain occurrence.
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A case of a large tonsillolith of the left palatine is presented. The lesion was detected incidentally during radiographic examination of a patient presenting with right mandibular pericoronitis. The patient had no symptoms referable to the left tonsillar region. ⋯ Many radiopaque structures and lesions occur in the soft tissues close to the jaws and are often observed on panoramic radiographs produced by imaging units with broad focal troughs. Such radiopacities in the mandibular molar-ramus region include sialolith, phlebolith, cysticercosis and calcified lymph node, carotid artery arteriosclerosis, stylohyoid ligament mineralization, and dystrophic calcification in acne scars. Tonsilloliths may present on panoramic radiograph as radiopaque objects superimposed on the midportion of the ascending mandibular ramus, and may be initially misinterpreted as intraosseous lesions of the mandible, such as foreign body, odontoma, sclerosing osteitis, Garre osteomyelitis, fibrous dysplasia, idiopathic osteosclerosis, and osteoma.