Oro-Facial Pain
Our Clinical Services
Oro-Facial Pain
Oro-Facial pain may come from different anatomical sources in the face and jaws. They may arise from the muscles of the jaws, the Temporomandibular Joint or TMJ, the jaw bone, the sensory nerves in the face or from the teeth. A thorough history and clinical examination is necessary to determine the source of the pain so that the appropriate treatment can be given. Examples of oro-facial pain can include Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD), TMJ disorders, Jaw lesions, Trigeminal Neuralgia or even pain due to dental decay or wisdom teeth.
You may exhibit various symptoms, especially around the facial and oral areas:
- Headaches
- Jaw pain or discomfort
- Toothache-like sensations in your teeth.
- Popping or cracking noises when opening or closing your mouth.
- Occasional ringing in your ears
- Muscle pain around your face
Effective management of oro-facial pain is dependent on the diagnosis. Management can range from conservative methods including pharmacological therapy, botox injections, jaw exercises or splint therapy to surgical interventions. Additional investigations and x-rays may also be required. To find our more, make an appointment for a consultation with our specialist Dr Andrew Ow today.
Common Causes of Oro-Facial Pain
The International Classification of Orofacial Pain (ICOP), established in 2020, officially recognises six subgroups of facial pain as the primary contributors to oro-facial pain.
Your genetics may also determine the shape and size of your jaw. Your wisdom teeth may be horizontally impacted if you are born with a smaller jaw structure. Impacted wisdom teeth can cause several painful symptoms, significantly affecting your daily routines.
Dental Pain
One of the more common symptoms of oro-facial pain is dental-related pain, including toothache-like pain in your teeth that is not actually an indication of a toothache. This pain may signify a disorder or dysfunction in your periodontium (tissue responsible for supporting the teeth), gums, oral mucosa (the mucous membrane that lines inside your mouth), saliva glands, or jaw bone tissue.
Myofascial Pain
This category refers to pain or discomfort in facial muscles, including the fascia (the connective tissue surrounding the muscles). Myofascial pain is one of the more difficult categories to diagnose accurately due to the nature of the pain you may feel. For example, the pain you may feel in your facial muscles may be a result of a habit of grinding your teeth when you are feeling stressed, or it may be due to a temporomandibular disorder in your jaw muscles.
Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Pain
TMJ pain or disorders are typically categorised as acute or chronic, depending on the persistence and severity of pain you experience. You may experience a combination of jaw-related pains and other signs of discomfort in and around your head, neck, and ears; pain may also be due to different conditions that are not solely tied to oro-facial pain, such as osteoarthritis.
Trigeminal or Glossopharyngeal Nerve Disorders
The trigeminal and glossopharyngeal nerves are two of the most essential cranial nerves in the human body. The former provides sensation to parts of the face and enables chewing food; meanwhile, the latter transmits sensory, motor, and parasympathetic (regulates your body's responses when you are at rest) information to the brain. Disorders affecting these nerves can cause a significant degree of pain, including trigeminal neuralgia, which is known to cause intense facial pain.
Oro-facial Pain Resembling Primary Headaches
Facial migraines and other head-related pains or similar conditions may present themselves sporadically (in episodes) or persistently over some time. Referred pain remains a challenge in accurately diagnosing a person’s actual symptoms due to where pain presents itself instead of where it is actually occurring, like having a facial migraine that somehow presents itself as toothaches.
Idiopathic Oro-facial Pain
“Idiopathic” refers to an unknown cause, so idiopathic oro-facial pain relates to instances when oro-facial pain occurs without a specific reason. A qualified oro-facial pain specialist can carefully rule out different factors based on present symptoms. Idiopathic oro-facial pain may present itself as persistent pain affecting one or both sides of the face, with no specific area of pain that can be accurately ascertained.
The Importance of Oro-Facial Pain Management
Because of how difficult it is to diagnose oro-facial pain accurately, it can be very easy for even a medical professional to accidentally misdiagnose oro-facial pain as something else, missing the root cause and potentially exacerbating complications. An oro-facial pain specialist will typically adopt a more holistic approach to diagnose symptoms and work with other medical practitioners to confirm the diagnosis and develop a suitable treatment plan.
In fact, the American Dental Association recognised oro-facial pain as the twelfth recognised dental speciality in 2020, emphasising the need for a deeper understanding of oro-facial pain in order to treat it. As such, to qualify as an oro-facial pain specialist, one must have formal advanced education and certification in the subject.
As part of oro-facial pain management, psychosocial assessments are key to helping practitioners diagnose and manage oro-facial pain effectively. It accounts for biological, psychological and social factors related to the pain you experience, how intense it is to you, and how it impacts your day-to-day activities, which can be crucial to narrowing down your symptoms and help address the root cause of your oro-facial pain.
The Consultation Process
1. Initial Assessments
During the consultation, our oro-facial pain specialist will examine your overall health, discuss your pain intensity and frequency, and ask other questions to diagnose your underlying problem(s) accurately. If you happen to have any questions or doubts, we will also be here to answer them as best as we can.
2. Imaging Tests
We will perform several vital imaging tests that can help us examine your facial structure in detail, which may yield valuable clues to deducing the root cause of your ailments.
3. Monitoring
In more stubborn cases, we may need to monitor your current health closely and look for signs and symptoms that indicate an underlying problem that needs to be treated.
4.Comprehensive Treatment Plan
Once we have determined the cause of your oro-facial woes, we will discuss the details of your treatment plan and notify you of the procedures we will employ to treat the root cause(s) and get you back into good shape. Treatments will involve a combination of different options, including physical therapy, medications, targeted TMJ treatments, and surgery for more severe cases.
Essential Dos And Don’ts
Oro-facial pain requires proper medical attention to be treated effectively, so we advise following these general dos and don’ts to ensure a successful treatment and subsequent recovery.
- Provide your doctor with as much information about your pain or discomfort as possible. The more information you can share, the more likely they can promptly determine and treat your underlying condition.
- Always listen to your doctor’s advice to ensure you enjoy a smooth treatment and recovery process.
- Change your lifestyle habits if they might help improve your condition. Try meditating to help calm yourself or changing your diet to include more nutritious food.
- Inform your doctor if the intensity of pain becomes too much to bear; additional checks may be needed to ascertain the exact cause, while medications may help ease the pain.
- Avoid panicking if your symptoms persist. If your condition does not seem to improve, notify your doctor immediately.
- Avoid making assumptions about your oro-facial pain; share whatever you can with the doctor, and they will determine your diagnosis and treatment accordingly.
Contact Us
- Location
101 Irrawaddy Road #11-05
Royal Square Medical Centre
Singapore 329565
- Contact Details
Number: +65 6276 7276
Email: enquiries@aomfsurgery.com
- Working Hours
Monday to Friday: 9.00 AM – 5.30 PM
Saturday: 9.00 AM – 12.30 PM
Sunday & Public Holidays: Closed
