Difference between nociceptive, inflammatory, and neuropathic pain
| Characteristics | Nociceptive orofacial pain | Inflammatory orofacial pain | Neuropathic pain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Causes and mechanism of pain pathway | Noxious stimulation at the peripheral nerve and transmitted by normal components of the sensory trigeminal nerve | Strong noxious stimulus causes lesions in the tissue leading to local inflammation responses and increased inflammatory mediators | Caused by nerve damage or injury and increased peripheral sensitization, structure change by increased sodium activation, calcium activity of nerves leading to ectopic discharges, and glia cell activation |
| Nerve condition | Normal nerve structure | Normal nerve structure | Abnormal nerve structure |
| Stimulation | Response to noxious stimulus for protective and withdrawal response | Response to noxious stimulus and increase of activity of peripheral nociceptors | -Response to non-noxious and noxious stimulation -Spontaneous pain without stimulation because ectopic discharges occurred in damaged nerves |
| Example | Hot soup contacting the oral mucosa immediately caused pain perception (heat/hot), and then they threw away this hot soup | -Pulp necrosis with apical abscess -Temporomandibular joint capsulitis or synovitis is caused by joint inflammation. Joint pain and limitation of jaw movement develops afterward | Peripheral trigeminal nerve injury is caused by nerve damage such as facial trauma accident or trigeminal neuralgia contributing to abnormal nerve structure and expression of severe shooting pain, intermittent patterns, and feels like electric shocks |