Influences of posterior teeth's pain intensity and duration on the incidence and characteristics of orofacial pain

ABSTRACT

Referred pain from toothache may obscure accurate identification of the offending tooth. For example, in the presence of pulpal pathology, patients may complain not only of pain in the offending tooth, but they also report widely pain in other orofacial structure. This study examined the influence of posterior toothache intensity, quality and duration on the incidence and characteristics of referred orofacial pain. In this cross sectional study, 462 subjects with posterior toothache were recruited randomly from patients referred to the faculty of dentistry. After clinical and radiographic examination, the patients were asked to complete a questionnaire consisting of a numerical rating scale for pain intensity and chose verbal descriptors from McGill questionnaire to describe the quality of their pain. Data were analyzed using chi-square test, Fisher exact and Mann-Whitney test. There was significant differences in intensity quality and duration of toothache and orofacial referred pain [P<0.05]. These results indicate that there is a positive correlation between referral pain and intensity, quality and duration of toothache