Prevalence of orofacial Pain among working adults - A Retrospective Study

Orofacial pain can be defined as a discipline of dentistry that deals with the diagnosis and management of different types of pain pertaining to the orofacial region such as the trigeminal neuralgia, atypical facial pain, postherpetic neuralgia, etc. The aim of the current study is to determine the prevalence of Orofacial Pain among working adults. The retrospective study involved the analysis of the case sheets of the patients with orofacial pain in the stipulated time frame and assessment based on the following parameters: age, gender, the type of orofacial pain, working status—statistical analysis calculated by chi-square test. A p-value <0.05 was considered significant. The prevalence of orofacial pain was 0.08% with a female - to - the male ratio of 1.06: 1 and working adults to non-working adults ratio of 1.36: 1. Trigeminal neuralgia shows a male-female ratio of 1.18: 1 and higher prevalence of Atypical facial pain in females (15.15%). According to our study, it can be concluded that orofacial pain was more prevalent in females. The prevalence of Trigeminal Neuralgia was higher in males and Atypical facial pain was the most prevalent type in females.

Case Series: Deep Brain Stimulation for Facial Pain

BACKGROUND Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been used for chronic pain for decades, but its use is limited due to a lack of reliable data about its efficacy for specific indications. OBJECTIVE To report on 9 patients who underwent DBS for facial pain, with a focus on differences in outcomes between distinct etiologies. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed 9 patients with facial pain who were treated with DBS of the ventral posteromedial nucleus of the thalamus and periventricular gray. We report on characteristics including facial pain etiology, complications, changes in pain scores using the visual analog scale (VAS), and willingness to undergo DBS again. RESULTS Nine patients underwent DBS for either poststroke, post-traumatic, postherpetic, or atypical facial pain. Eight patients (89%) were permanently implanted. Seven patients had sufficient follow-up (mean 40.3 mo). Of these 7 patients, average VAS scores decreased from 9.4 to 6.1 after DBS. The average decrease in VAS was 55% for post-traumatic facial pain (2 patients), 45% for poststroke (2 patients), 15% for postherpetic neuralgia (2 patients), and 0% for atypical facial pain (1 patient). Three of the 8 implanted patients (38%) had complications which required removal of hardware. Only 2 of 7 (29%) patients met classical criteria for responders (50% decrease in pain scores). However, among 4 patients who were asked about willingness to undergo DBS again, all expressed that they would repeat the procedure. CONCLUSION There is a trend towards improvement in pain scores following DBS for facial pain, most prominently with post-traumatic pain.

Bilateral Atypical Facial Pain Caused by Eagle’s Syndrome

Recurrent throat pain, “foreign body” sensation, difficulty in swallowing, or vague facial pain is many times caused by the presence of an elongated styloid process. Many times, this condition is misdiagnosed and the patient is treated for facial neuralgia. But once Eagle’s syndrome is confirmed by clinical and radiological examination, the treatment is always surgical resection. The approach maybe intraoral or extraoral. In this paper, we present a case of Eagle’s syndrome caused by bilateral elongation of the styloid process and where surgical resection of the same gave instant permanent relief for the patient.