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Query: UMLS:C0262471 (ENT)
 5,307 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Toothache occurs as a result of pulpal and periodontal diseases. Due to the nature of their innervation pain is the only means for both pulp and dentine to react to all kinds of external stimuli. The actual mechanism of sensory transmission, however, has not been clarified, yet. In contrast to this, the innervation of the periodontium offers a wide range of mechano-sensitive receptors. Chronic dental pain is mainly the result of inflammatory reactions. Nerve sprouting, summation, convergence in the trigeminal system and regional inflammatory conditions modulate the local pain process, thus complicating diagnosis. The differential diagnostic clarification with regard to neuralgiform and ENT-diseases therefore requires special care with case history and status. Although there have been advances in pain research over the last few years, no fundamental development in dental diagnosis has been brought about, yet. Probing, sensitivity- and percussion testing as well as x-ray exposure are still the most important diagnostic tools for the dental practitioner.
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PMID:[Acute and chronic toothache]. 181

Trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TACs) and hemicrania continua (HC) are relatively rare but clinically rather well-defined primary headaches. Despite the existence of clear-cut diagnostic criteria (The International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd edition - ICHD-II) and several therapeutic guidelines, errors in workup and treatment of these conditions are frequent in clinical practice. We set out to review all available published data on mismanagement of TACs and HC patients in order to understand and avoid its causes. The search strategy identified 22 published studies. The most frequent errors described in the management of patients with TACs and HC are: referral to wrong type of specialist, diagnostic delay, misdiagnosis, and the use of treatments without overt indication. Migraine with and without aura, trigeminal neuralgia, sinus infection, dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction are the disorders most frequently overdiagnosed. Even when the clinical picture is clear-cut, TACs and HC are frequently not recognized and/or mistaken for other disorders, not only by general physicians, dentists and ENT surgeons, but also by neurologists and headache specialists. This seems to be due to limited knowledge of the specific characteristics and variants of these disorders, and it results in the unnecessary prescription of ineffective and sometimes invasive treatments which may have negative consequences for patients. Greater knowledge of and education about these disorders, among both primary care physicians and headache specialists, might contribute to improving the quality of life of TACs and HC patients.
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PMID:Diagnostic and therapeutic errors in trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias and hemicrania continua: a systematic review. 2356 39

This series of papers aims to provide the dental and medical teams with an update in pain, both acute and chronic orofacial conditions, relevant to dentistry and medicine. Pain is the most common symptom for patients presenting to their dentist, and is increasingly commonly presenting to doctors as well, in general practice and A & E departments. Most of the dental team take for granted their knowledge and ability to manage acute dental pain. However, the education and preparation in managing patients with chronic pain conditions remains poor in many medical and dental schools. Conversely, medics are better educated and exposed to chronic pain during their undergraduate education, however, with regards to orofacial pain education, exposure is diminishing due to decreased exposure to dentistry, ENT, otolaryngology, OMFS and oral surgery. Thus many clinical teams remain disadvantaged when diagnosing and managing orofacial pain. Clinical Relevance: Significant advances that have been made in understanding the pain mechanisms are not to be overlooked and have a huge impact on how we manage patients in pain.
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PMID:Pain. Part 1: Introduction to pain. 2605 24