Cranio
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Comparative Study
A clinical comparison of internal joint disorders in patients presenting disk-attachment pain: prevalence, characterization, and severity of bruxing behavior.
This study clinically documents the presence of disk-attachment pain (DAP) related to the severity of bruxism and to the prevalence of internal joint disorders in patients and controls. The sample consisted of 394 temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and bruxing behavior patients and 104 nonbruxer control subjects. The TMD group was subdivided in a group of 109 disk-attachment pain patients and 285 bruxing behavior-nonDAP groups. ⋯ Our conclusions are based upon a review of the literature and on the results of this study: a. DAP is a relatively well defined stage of internal joint derangement (IJD); and b. compared to other groups, DAP patients as a subgroup are relatively more impaired by their masticatory and other functional disorders. This study provides strong support to other studies and demonstrates that DAP is a well-differentiated and severe internal joint disorder.
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The etiology of facial pain is multifactorial. Based on the results of a questionnaire included in the study of the 1966 Northern Finland Birth Cohort, performed in 1997-98, we found an association of facial pain with subjective symptoms of temporomandibular disorders (TMD), neck pain and with occlusal factors reported by 5,696 subjects. The aim of the present study was to examine these associations clinically. ⋯ The risk for facial pain was six-fold in subjects with clinically assessed TMD, defined as moderate (DiII) or severe (DiIII) by Helkimo's clinical dysfunction index, almost six-fold in subjects with protrusion interferences and approximately three-fold in subjects with clinically assessed tenderness of distinct fibromyalgia (FM) points in the neck. According to the adjusted logistic regression analyses, TMD had the strongest influence on facial pain, followed by protrusion interferences, anamnestically reported allergies and "other headaches". The present study shows that as well as being connected with TMD, facial pain is associated with pain and muscle tenderness in the neck area.
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Case Reports
Sympathetic activity-mediated neuropathic facial pain following simple tooth extraction: a case report.
This is a report of a case of sympathetic activity-mediated neuropathic facial pain induced by a traumatic trigeminal nerve injury and by varicella zoster virus infection, following a simple tooth extraction. The patient had undergone extraction of the right lower third molar at a local dental clinic, and soon after the tooth extraction, she became aware of spontaneous pain in the right ear, right temporal region, and in the tooth socket. At our initial examination 30 days after the tooth extraction, the healing of the tooth socket was normal; however, the patient had a tingling and burning sensation (dysesthesia) and spontaneous pain of the right lower lip and the right temporal region, both of which were exacerbated by non-noxious stimuli (allodynia). ⋯ A diagnostic stellate ganglion block (SGB) 45 days after the tooth extraction using one percent lidocaine markedly alleviated the dysesthesia and allodynia. These symptoms are characteristic of neuropathic pain with sympathetic interaction. The patient was successfully treated with SGB and a tricyclic antidepressant.
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Alexithymia is a term denoting a deficit in the ability to differentiate emotional from physical states and to identify and describe one's feelings, as well as a preference for external oriented thinking. Alexithymia has been linked with various somatic and psychosomatic diseases, especially with chronic pain. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between alexithymia and symptoms of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) as well as oro-lingual and dental pain, in a large representative population sample of young adults. ⋯ After adjusting for depression, marital status, and self-rated health, a significant association remained between alexithymia and the symptoms mentioned, except for facial pain in men. It can be concluded that alexithymia is connected with orofacial symptoms. Clinicians treating these symptoms should be familiar with the concept of alexithymia.