Prevention-management of Idiopathic Pain After Implant Placement

2013;144(12):1358-1361JADA João N. Ferreira and Rui Figueiredoplacementidiopathic facial pain after dental implant Prevention and management of persistent

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1358 JADA 144(12) http://jada.ada.org December 2013

C L I N I C A L P R A C T I C E P A I N U P D A T E

Copyright © 2013 American Dental Association. All Rights Reserved.

a common complication? What other sources of pain should clinicians rule out first? Can this type of problem be prevented? What can clini-cians do to manage the care of patients appropriately?

EXPLANATIONPersistent pain after dental implant placement may occur immediately after surgery with no apparent organic cause and without any neu-rosensory deficits.1 The incidence of trigeminal neuropathic symptoms after dental procedures in the maxilla, including implant surgery, is extremely low (approximately 0.9 percent) and rarely is reported in the literature.1-3 These outcomes sometimes are due to direct trauma to a trigeminal nerve trunk or major branch, but this review focuses mainly on the idio-pathic onset of such problems. The etiology and pathophysiology of persistent idiopathic facial pain (PIFP)—also known as atypical facial pain—are poorly understood, and the differen-tial diagnosis is challenging and often requires the involvement of several clinicians, includ-ing dentists, neurologists and ENT specialists. Indeed, clinicians must rule out several pain conditions before reaching a final diagnosis of PIFP (Box4-8). In fact, many of these conditions can be excluded because they are associated with specific pathognomonic clinical features.4 A dentist also can administer local or regional di-agnostic anesthetic blocks to rule out more com-mon conditions such as odontogenic pain, pain associated with temporomandibular disorders and traumatic neuropathic pain. However, with this anesthetic block approach, the pain must be

CLINICAL PROBLEM

A 69-year-old woman visited us with a three-week history of facial pain in the right infraorbital region after dental implant placement. Her medical his-

tory was significant for general anxiety disorder (GAD) and chronic pain (CP) in the lower back. The patient’s neurologist had been treating her with lorazepam for GAD and tramadol for CP.

The referring dentist had placed two dental implants in the maxilla under local anesthesia to replace teeth nos. 3 and 5. The patient did not report any intraoperative complications. Im-mediately after surgery, the patient complained of a daily, spontaneous, deep dull pain located in the right upper lip, with an intensity of 8 on a scale from 0 to 10. The facial pain had no identifiable triggers and the patient had no neu-rosensory deficits. The referring dentist initially prescribed sodium diclofenac and an antibiotic for facial pain and to prevent postoperative in-fection. At the three-week postsurgical follow-up visit, neither the frequency nor the intensity of the pain had improved. Also, no peripheral signs or symptoms such as redness, swelling or purulent drainage were observed, and no gross pathology was present on periapical films. After consulting with a neurologist, we performed magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, with and without contrast, the results of which were normal. No maxillary sinus pathology was found on a computed tomographic scan performed dur-ing a consultation with an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist.

Is there an association between this pain and the implant placement procedure? If so, is this

Prevention and management of persistent idiopathic facial pain after dental implant placementJoão N. Ferreira, DDS, MS, PhD; Rui Figueiredo, DDS, MS

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ened anxiety with the resistance to anesthetic efficacy during the decision-making process for implant placement, and they can use screen-ing questionnaires or scales to assess anxiety levels. Clinicians can estimate patients’ anxiety levels by using a 10-centimeter visual analog scale or measure anxiety by using valid and reliable psychometric tools (for example, Corah Dental Anxiety Scale).17-19 Managing the care of patients who are moderately to severely anxious may include use of conscious sedation or cogni-tive behavioral therapy (CBT) or prescription of short-acting benzodiazepines before the dental procedure.16,20-22

In the case presented here, the presence of preoperative comorbidities (for example, anxi-ety, CP) may have predisposed the patient to developing postoperative pain, particularly because these comorbidities were not well controlled.13-15

MANAgEMENTIn patients diagnosed with PIFP, screening questionnaires and specific neurosensory test-ing are important to identify possible sensory

reduced dramatically or eliminated completely to rule out these pathologies.

The International Headache Society (IHS) provides four diagnostic criteria for PIFP (IHS/International Classification of Headache Disor-ders, 2nd edition [ICHD-II], code 13.18.49). The corresponding International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, code is G50.1.10

dDaily pain must be present for most of the day.dThe pain must be deep, dull and unilateral and not well localized.dThe pain is not associated with focal neuro-logical signs or sensory deficits.dNo abnormality should be found with labo-ratory and radiographic investigations, which must include imaging studies of the face, jaw, cervical spine and chest.4,11

The clinical case scenario described here should be diagnosed as PIFP, because the char-acteristics of the pain fulfill the IHS criteria, and because the clinical features and laboratory parameters seem to rule out other conditions (Box4-8). In this case, no direct evidence of tri-geminal nerve damage is available, and, there-fore, the diagnosis relies on symptoms and signs alone. We must acknowledge that idiopathic pain is a temporary concept until clarification of pathophysiological mechanisms (for example, deafferentation) is obtained.11

PREvENTIONIn cases such as the one described here, post-operative PIFP symptoms may be preventable to some extent if the potential risk factors are identified.12 An appropriate medical history, di-agnosis and treatment are paramount to reduc-ing the risk of developing PIFP after implant surgery. It is highly unlikely that the drilling or implant placement caused direct infraorbital nerve damage. However, factors such as incision size (particularly with flap elevation), type of surgery, anxiety, age, sex and especially the ex-istence of preoperative chronic pain conditions have emerged as independent predictors of pain immediately after surgical procedures.13-15

Highly anxious patients appear to be more resistant to local anesthesia and may be at higher risk of experiencing trigeminally medi-ated pain after invasive dental procedures such as implant placement.16 Also, lower patient satisfaction has been associated with higher preoperative anxiety (independent of the pa-tient’s postoperative satisfaction with the sur-geon), particularly in women and in younger patients.16,17 Consequently, clinicians should discuss with patients the association of height-

BOX

Differential diagnosis before reaching a final diagnosis of PIFP.*†

DIFFERENTIAL DIAgNOSIS LISTdPeripheral traumatic neuropathic pain‡

dPostherpetic neuralgias

dTypical trigeminal neuralgia or other cranial neuralgias

dAtypical odontalgia (also known as persistent dentoalveolar pain§)

dOdontogenic pain (such as pulpitis, periapical periodontitis, cracked tooth syndrome)

dSinus-related pathologies (acute or chronic sinusitis)

dTemporomandibular disorders (arthralgia/osteoarthritis, masticatory myofascial pain)

dPrimary headache conditions (tension-type headache, migraine, cluster headache)

dTolosa-Hunt syndrome

dCarotidynia

dFacial pain secondary to intracranial or extracranial infections or tumors (for example, lung cancer)

dFacial pain secondary to cervical spine disease (C2-C8 cervical nerve root compression, facet injury or both)

* PIFP: Persistent idiopathic facial pain.† Sources: Agostoni and colleagues,4 Evans and Agostoni,5 Eliav and Max.6

‡ Source: Benoliel and colleagues.7

§ Source: Nixdorf and colleagues.8

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ment.4,5,22,28,29 Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) addressing PIPF management have not been performed systematically, to our knowl-edge, which complicates an evidence-based treatment decision.28 However, pharmacological therapy, including topical medications, non-tricyclic and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), anticonvulsants and benzodiazepines, is recom-mended widely as the first line of treatment for PIFP (Table).4-6,22,26-28 Yet, in the majority of cases of PIFP, complete pain remission is not achieved.4,28

CONCLUSIONSIn our clinical scenario, a multidisciplinary pain team can propose treatment with topical compound medications (for example, lidocaine 1 percent, carbamazepine 4 percent and gaba-pentin 4 percent) to achieve better local pain control without increasing adverse effects or drug interactions in this elderly patient. If not contraindicated, systemic nontricyclics and TCAs would be the second treatment option, followed by anticonvulsants and minor opioids, though none of these drugs has been tested in well-designed RCTs to study their efficacy in pa-tients with PIFP.4,28 Patients who are refractory to conventional pharmacological treatment may benefit from hypnosis. In a patient-masked con-trolled RCT, hypnosis offered clinically relevant pain relief for PIFP compared with a relaxation intervention, particularly in patients with high susceptibility to hypnosis.29 Stress coping skills and CBT for unresolved psychological problems (such as pain catastrophizing, anxiety, depres-sion, obsessive compulsive disorder) must be included in a comprehensive pain management approach to control psychological factors and improve patients’ quality of life.22,28,29 n

Dr. Ferreira is a clinical research fellow and a TMD and orofacial pain clinician, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 30 Convent Drive, Building 30, Room 429, Bethesda, Md. 20892, e-mail [email protected]. Address reprint requests to Dr. Ferreira.

Dr. Figueiredo is an associate professor, Oral Surgery, School of Dentistry, University of Barcelona, and a researcher at Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain.

Disclosure. Drs. Ferreira and Figueiredo did not report any disclosures.

This study was supported in part by the Intramural Research Pro-gram of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.

The authors thank Drs. Katiucha Sales and Dean Aria for helpful discussions and critical reading of the manuscript of this article.

Pain Update is published in collaboration with the Neuroscience Group of the International Association for Dental Research.

1. Gregg JM. Neuropathic complications of mandibular implant surgery: review and case presentations. Ann R Australas Coll Dent

disturbances (paresthesia, dysesthesia, allodyn-ia) in the trigeminal area.12,23,24 If acute neuro-pathic pain symptoms are present immediately after implant surgery and nerve injury is sus-pected, patients may undergo removal of their implants within 24 hours to resolve their pain or may undergo an immediate repair if nerve section is detected.22,25 Clinicians should treat acute postoperative nerve injuries immediately with topical or systemic anti-inflammatories, peripheral nerve blocks with local anesthetics and glucocorticoids, as well as with neuropathic pain medications to reduce potential neuro-genic inflammation and regain typical neuronal transmission.1,26-28

When intractable PIFP is diagnosed after implant surgery, patients’ potential to recover their normal trigeminal sensations is reduced.22 Therefore, consultations with patients should include a full explanation of pain symptoms to alleviate many concerns and, we hope, persuade patients to avoid unnecessary invasive dental or medical treatments. Clinicians should consider referring patients to an orofacial pain clinician or a neurologist for further pain assessment, stimulus-response testing and CP manage-

TABLE

Common medications used to treat persistent idiopathic facial pain. DRUg CLASS EXAMPLE

OF ACTIvE SUBSTANCE

MEChANISM OF ACTION

Tricyclic and Nontricylic Antidepressants

Amitriptyline Nortriptyline Duloxetine

Inhibit reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine

ß-Blockers Propranolol Block β1- and β2-adrenergic receptors

Anticonvulsants Gabapentin Pregabalin

Inhibit voltage-gated Ca2+* influx

Benzodiazepines Clonazepam Modulate GABAA†

receptors

gABAergics Baclofen GABAB receptor agonist

Minor Opioid Analgesics

Tramadol Weak micro-opioid receptor agonist, induces serotonin release, inhibits reuptake of norepinephrine

Topical Pain Medications

Lidocaine Ketamine

Capsaicin

Local anesthetic NMDA‡ receptor antagonist Agonist of TRPV1§ ion channels

* Ca2+: Calcium.† GABA: g-aminobutyric acid.‡ NMDA: N-methyl-D-aspartate.§ TRPV1: Transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily

V, member 1.

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