Research progress in the role of P2X receptors in oral maxillofacial pain / 口腔疾病防治

@#Oral maxillofacial pain is one of the most common symptoms that greatly influences patients′ quality of life. Infectious diseases, nerve injuries and tumors in the oromaxillofacial region can cause facial pain. P2X receptors are located in the central and peripheral nervous system. P2X receptors are non-selective cation channels that are activated by extracellular ATP and play an important role in nociceptive processing. In recent years, research into the relationship between P2X receptors and pain has become popular. Research shows that P2X receptors are expressed in the trigeminal ganglia (TG) of the primary sensory ganglion, and the effects of P2X receptors on facial pain and their related conduction mechanisms are worthy of additional research. To provide new ideas for orofacial pain prevention and treatment, this article reviews the latest progress in research regarding the role of P2X receptors in inflammatory pain, neuropathic pain, and cancer pain, among others, of the oromaxillofacial region.

Pain measurement in oral and maxillofacial surgery

Regardless of whether it is acute or chronic, the assessment of pain should be simple and practical. Since the intensity of pain is thought to be one of the primary factors that determine its effect on a human's overall function and sense, there are many scales to assess pain. The aim of the current article was to review pain intensity scales that are commonly used in dental and oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS). Previous studies demonstrated that multidimensional scales, such as the McGill Pain Questionnaire, Short form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, and Wisconsin Brief Pain Questionnaire were suitable for assessing chronic pain, while unidimensional scales, like the Visual Analogue Scales (VAS), Verbal descriptor scale, Verbal rating scale, Numerical rating Scale, Faces Pain Scale, Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale (WBS), and Full Cup Test, were used to evaluate acute pain. The WBS is widely used to assess pain in children and elderly because other scales are often difficult to understand, which could consequently lead to an overestimation of the pain intensity. In dental or OMFS research, the use of the VAS is more common because it is more reliable, valid, sensitive, and appropriate. However, some researchers use NRS to evaluate OMFS pain in adults because this scale is easier to use than VAS and yields relatively similar pain scores. This review only assessed pain scales used for post-operative OMFS or dental pain.