What Patients Need To Know About the Differential Diagnosis Of Facial Pain

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The Facial Pain Organisation has released the next presentation from the Conference held in January 2022

The presentation is by Dr Donald Nixdorf and is packed with really useful tips how to communicate with your care providers, and some of the issues that are encountered not only from the patients perspective, but from the clinicians view too

Dr. Nixdorf is a Professor and Director of the Division of TMD & Orofacial Pain. His clinical and teaching interests include the diagnosis and management of chronic TMD pain, headaches and neuropathic pain. His research is focused on the topic of persistent non-odontogenic “tooth” pain, looking at issues related to classification (e.g., consensus building), diagnosis (e.g., development of criteria, imaging, screening questionnaires), epidemiology, (e.g., determining predictive factors, assessing of impact), exploration of mechanisms (e.g., sensory testing, functional imaging), and treatment options.

Dr Nixdorf clearly describes how miscommunication can prevent a positive outcome in diagnosis and treatment

One of his major tips for orofacial pain sufferers, is to create a timeline of what has happened to you

  1. When did the pain start
  2. What medical practitioner have you seen
  3. Have you had the help of a clinical psychologist
  4. What medications have you taken
  5. Did they work and for how long

He was clear that the timeline did not have to be 100% accurate, nor did you need to compile a huge novel.  What is important, is in order for your practitioner to help they need guiding to the bullseye, so when they offer a diagnosis, it is not a scattergun approach

We do know that when dealing with chronic pain it is difficult to remember or organise thoughts, so perhaps when you are have a good day, start the process of recording your journey

Trust is so important when you are on the diagnosis journey, so everything you can do to help your practitioner get to the root of the problem will build trust between you

We have loaded this excellent presentation onto our Digital Outreach and Training /  Video Presentations and urge all sufferers to take the time and watch this presentation.

Watch Video 010

If you are not a member, then head over to the Facial Pain Associations site

Home – Facial Pain Association (facepain.org)

 

 

Tags: Chronic pain, Orofacial diagnosis

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