Dental News - Study reveals that post-endo pain has different sources

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 15 December 2011

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CHICAGO, Ill. & MIAMI, Fla., USA: Tooth pain occurring after endodontic treatment might originate more often from another source than from the treated tooth itself. Having reviewed studies from a period of 60 years, U.S. researchers claim that in six out of ten cases of post-endodontic pain, the cause had nothing to do with the tooth that was treated originally.

In their review published in the December issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association, researchers from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry analysed 10 out of 770 English-language studies conducted between 1949 and 2009. It was required that treated teeth qualifying for inclusion in the review be followed up for at least six months after treatment.

According to the review, the findings could have serious implications for the diagnosis and clinical management of post-endodontic pain. Dr Paul Benjamin, a dentist from Miami, said in a commentary that was also released by the journal that should the results be verified, almost 700,000 cases of tooth-related pain could be misdiagnosed on an annual basis in the U.S. alone. He advised clinicians to incorporate the new knowledge into future diagnoses of post-endodontic pain and to eliminate other possible sources, including pain associated with the musculoskeletal system or systematic diseases like cancer.

Post-endodontic pain has been identified in latest studies to occur in 5 to 6 per cent of all endodontically treated teeth. Clinical management is usually focused on the treated tooth itself and includes administering pain-relieving medication.

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