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Differential diagnosis of toothache to prevent erroneous and unnecessary dental treatment
Author(s) -
De Laat Antoon
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of oral rehabilitation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2842
pISSN - 0305-182X
DOI - 10.1111/joor.12946
Subject(s) - toothache , medicine , trigeminal neuralgia , orofacial pain , neuralgia , neuropathic pain , neurovascular bundle , facial pain , odontogenic , differential diagnosis , trigeminal nerve , dermatology , anesthesia , dentistry , surgery , pathology
Toothache represents the most common example of oro‐facial pain. Its origin is mostly odontogenic, but several other conditions may mimic dental pain or present themselves as such. Well‐known examples are myofascial pain, trigeminal neuropathies like neuralgia and painful post‐traumatic trigeminal neuropathic pain, oro‐facial neurovascular pains, cardiac pain and sinus disease. This review first discusses the current knowledge on the underlying pathophysiology of heterotopic tooth pain. Afterwards, several conditions potentially presenting as toothache will be illustrated regarding clinical features, diagnosis and management.