A difficult diagnosis

Diagnosing and treating pain is not always as easy or as straightforward as it may seem. Very often we find ourselves confronted by patients who may be sleep deprived, or who may have poor communication skills; both of which can be a hindrance to diagnosing the precise cause of the pain.

Another problem that we face is that pain is very emotional issue for all those concerned. When a patient presents with pain, clearly we want to relieve their suffering and help in any way we can. The problem is, as dentists we are often inclined to look for dental causes. Though fairly rare, problems can arise in cases when we intervene with the very best intentions, but are then faced with an issue that was never dental at all.

Do no harm

This topic reminds me of a feature posted on the BBC towards the end of last year. In the article we met a patient, Ann Eastman, who unfortunately lost two teeth through misdiagnosis of her trigeminal neuralgia. This condition, which often mimics the symptoms of dental pain, is thankfully relatively rare, however this article showed it can be misdiagnosed – often with serious consequences for the patient.