Chronic Pain Disorder Manifesting as Dental Pain: Case Report

From Volume 33, Issue 1, January 2006 | Pages 54-56

Authors

Teserna Taye

MD, MRCPsych

Specialist Registrar in Old Age Psychiatry, Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Howlands, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire AL7 4HQ

Articles by Teserna Taye

Naomi Fineberg

MBBS, MRCPsych

Consultant Psychiatrist, Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Howlands, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire AL7 4HQ

Articles by Naomi Fineberg

Jeremy A Sherman

MBBS, MRCS

Consultant Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon, Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Howlands, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire AL7 4HQ

Articles by Jeremy A Sherman

Harish Rao

MD, MRCPsych

Senior House Officer in Psychiatry, Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Howlands, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire AL7 4HQ

Articles by Harish Rao

David Creak

MBBS, MRCGP

General Practitioner, Moors Walk Surgery, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire AL7 2BA, UK

Articles by David Creak

Abstract

Chronic pain disorder is a challenging presentation for the dental surgeon, and carries considerable impairment for the affected individual. Patients undergo extensive unnecessary investigations and treatments before the correct diagnosis is reached. It is frequently a diagnosis of exclusion. We report the case of a 46-year-old man who experienced persistent severe orofacial pain superimposed upon pain involving other anatomical regions for more than 20 years. He received treatment by eight specialties and at five national centres with increasingly poor outcome. The importance of early recognition of medically unexplained pain will be discussed.

Article

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