Content area
Full text
Keywords
Headache, neuralgic pain conditions, orofacial pain, sinusitis, temporomandibular joint/ musculoskeletal disorders
Abstract
Background: Pain is a significant discomfort faced by the majority of people with orofacial disorders. This study was aimed at assessing nature of pain using different pain skills among population suffering from non-odontogenic orofacial pain.
Objective: To estimate the prevalence of non-odontogenic pain and characterize the nature of non-odontogenic pain at the outpatient department of Mahatma Gandhi Medical Hospital and Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences.
Method: Patients were selected by randomized sampling method for a period of 1 year. Patients diagnosed with non-odontogenic orofacial pain were asked to fill pain questionnaires to analyze the intensity and quality of the pain. The obtained results were subjected to percentage analysis.
Results: A total of 1515 patients reported with non-odontogenic orofacial pain, with male to female ratio of 2.08:1.03. The majority of patients reported pain due to temporomandibular joint/musculoskeletal disorders, followed by non-odontogenic oral pain conditions such as headache and neuralgic pain conditions, sinusitis, ear-related disorders, throat- and neck-related disorders, and psychogenic pain conditions. The intensity and quality of pain differed from each condition.
Conclusion: Multiple scales to measure the intensity of pain, and McGill pain questionnaire to analyze the quality and character of pain gives a fair idea about the patient's quality of life, providing baseline information about non-odontogenic orofacial pain.
Introduction
Pain is a subjective and complex phenomenon with significant discomfort and suffering and is the most common symptom of dental and oral diseases. The term "pain" is currently defined as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage" by the International Association for the Study of Pain.[1]
Very few studies have been done stating the prevalence of non-odontogenic orofacial pain as a whole. The present study was designed to estimate the prevalence of various non-odontogenic orofacial pain reported at the outpatient department of Mahatma Gandhi Medical Hospital and Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences and to characterize the various non-odontogenic orofacial pain conditions with the help of pain questionnaires.
Patients and Methodology
This was a yearlong cross-sectional study conducted in Mahatma Gandhi Medical Hospital and Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences at Puducherry, after approval from Institutional Review...