Neuropathic Pain in the Orofacial Region: Clinical and Research Challenges

Neuropathic pain in the orofacial region poses a difficult challenge to the treating physician. In some cases diagnosis is far from easy. Common causes of orofacial neuropathic pain are reviewed here, with a focus on the 2 most common: postherpetic neuralgia and posttraumatic painful peripheral neuropathy. In addition, the dis-cussion includes idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia (tic douloureux), a neuropathic pain syndrome that is nearly unique to the trigeminal distribution (very rarely, it has also been reported in the glos-sopharyngeal region). Brief summaries of major research problems and successes are also provided.

postherpetic neuralgia; trigeminal neuralgia

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