Review Article
Year: 2017 | Month: June | Volume: 2 | Issue: 2 | Pages: 20-23
Atypical Facial Pain: A Mini-Review
Lydia Nabil Fouad Melek
BDS, MSc, PhD, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Champolion Street, Azarita, Alexandria University, Egypt.
ABSTRACT
Persistent idiopathic facial pain (PIFP), previously called “atypical facial pain”, is a diagnostic entity that describes chronic facial pain without evidence of structural or other specific causes of pain. Most of the data clearly indicate that PIFP is a rare disorder. It is more common in women, and the mean age of onset is in the mid forties. Careful interdisciplinary collaboration is needed to establish the diagnosis and management of persistent idiopathic facial pain (PIFP). The diagnostic criteria for PIFP include the presence of daily or near daily pain that is initially confined but may subsequently spread, which cannot be attributed to any pathological process. So, the diagnosis of PIFP is mainly done by exclusion of other disorders.
Key words: persistent idiopathic facial pain; atypical facial pain; atypical odontalgia; trigeminal neuropathy