Difference in acute orofacial pain and chronic pain orofacial pain
| Characteristics | Acute orofacial pain | Chronic orofacial pain |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | Onset | Sustained, persistent >3 months in humans |
| Cause | Caused by inflammation or injury of tissue | Caused by inflammation, nerve damage and excessive or uncontrolled inflammation |
| Cause has gone away or healed | No pain when normal healing occurs or is only temporary (pain disappears once stimulus is removed) | Persistent pain and excessive, uncontrolled causes |
| Signs and symptoms | Sudden, sharp, intense, localized | Aching, diffused |
| Physiologic response | Acute pain affects increased cardiovascular functions such as increased blood pressure and heart rate via sympathetic response | Chronic pain affects physiological responses with adaptation behaviors or psychological responses such as depression and anxiety |
| Examples in the orofacial area | (1) Dental pain: pulpitis (2) Mucogingival pain | (1) Neuropathic pain: trigeminal neuralgia, peripheral trigeminal nerve injury, postherpetic neuralgia (2) Chronic inflammatory pain: chronic pulpitis and apical lesions, temporomandibular disorder pain (3) Neurovascular pain: migraines, tension-type headaches |