Chronic orofacial pain: is the puzzle unraveling?

Abstract

Conditions involving chronic orofacial pain represent a major health problem, and patients with persistent pain are difficult to manage successfully. These conditions are often comorbid with additional health issues such as sleep disturbances, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and reproductive system complaints, weight loss or weight gain, swelling, numbness, sweating and flushing, and concerns regarding loss of libido, drive, attention, and memory. Neuroendocrine and autonomic pain-stress responsivity and the consequences of pain for sensory, motor, immune and reproductive functions, and mood seem to account for the broad range of comorbid complaints. Susceptibility to a particular response appears to explain intra-individual differences in disease expression. Understanding of these regulatory, mostly adaptive processes will support novel treatments to manage many troublesome comorbid complaints for which current approaches are unsatisfactory.