Dental patients who have had tooth extractions can have pain at the site for months afterwards, said researchers at the 10th World Congress on Pain.
This extraction site pain may spread to other areas of the mouth and may be related to changes in a person’s pain threshold.
Researchers studied 10 patients who complained of "phantom tooth" pain and compared them with 16 patients who had a tooth extracted but did not complain of pain at the site. Using a thermal probe, they conducted sensory tests to evaluate each patient’s reaction to mechanical pressure, warm and hot temperatures, and cool and cold temperatures.
They found the greatest difference between groups in the reaction to mechanical pressure. When researchers put pressure on the extraction area, subjects who had complained of phantom tooth pain experienced pain at lower thresholds than did the control subjects.
Researchers concluded that phantom tooth pain is caused by changes in the surrounding nerves that occur after some extractions. They recommend that patients who report having phantom tooth pain see an orofacial pain specialist to obtain a diagnosis.
