Volume 65 Number 5&6 October/November 1998	back to contents

Differential Diagnosis of Orofacial Pain	348
Richard A. Pertes, D.D.S.
From the Division of Oral Medicine, Department of Oral Pathology, Oral Biology, and Diagnostic Sciences, New Jersey Dental School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ. Address correspondence to Richard A. Pertes, D.D.S., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Dental School, Division of Oral Medicine, 110 Bergen Street, Newark, NJ 07103-2400.

ABSTRACT
Orofacial pain, especially if the problem is chronic, presents a diagnostic and management challenge to all health practitioners. This paper suggests how clinicians might simplify the diagnosis of orofacial pain. First, the pain is classified into one of the three basic pain categories: somatic, neuropathic, or psychogenic pain. Somatic pain results from noxious stimulation of normal neural structures. Neuropathic pain is caused by a structural abnormality in the nervous system. Psychogenic pain arises from psychic causes; there is no apparent physiologic or organic basis for the pain. The next step is to determine the tissue system from which the pain arises: intracranial, extracranial, musculoskeletal, neurovascular, neurogenous, or psychological. Finally, some of the more common orofacial pain syndromes within each category are discussed.

KEY WORDS
Somatic orofacial pain, neuropathic orofacial pain

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