Professional paper
Orofacial Pain of Non-Odontogenic Cause-Retrospective Study on 100 Patients Referred to the Primary Dental Health Care
Alka Rajčić
Goran Knežević
Vanja Vučićević-Boras
Abstract
The diagnosis of orofacial pain is an essential and frequently undervalued component of dental practice. The aim of this retrospective study was to report causes, diagnostic procedures applied and clinical manifestations of non-odontogenic orofacial pain in patients referred to primary dental care. In our patients, pain most frequently occurred in the maxilla, followed by the mandible, ear and temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Out of the accompanying symptoms, inflammation was reported in most of the patients. The character of the pain was described as deep, unilateral, dull, bearable, and pulsing. Forty-four patients reported stress with equal distribution according to the gender of patients. The average duration of pain before seeking the professional help of a dentist was 4.23 months. The average duration of pain once it had started was 8 hours. Most frequent causes of non-odontogenic pain in our patients were malignant tumors in the oral cavity, followed by TMJ disorders and trigeminal neuralgia.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
2355
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2004.
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