There are many causes of facial pain. At Restore Medical partners, we will complete a thorough review of your history and complete a physical exam to diagnose your facial pain. The most common causes of face pain include TMJ or Temporomandibular Joint disorder, chronic sinusitis, chronic ear infections or mastoiditis, or trigeminal neuralgia. Trigeminal neuralgia is a pain condition that affects certain nerves in your face.

People who have this condition say the pain might feel like an electric shock, and it can sometimes be intense. Doctors have treatments that can help, including medicine and surgery.

Mapping the Nerves in Your Face

Each trigeminal nerve splits into three branches, controlling the feeling for different parts of your face. They are:

• The ophthalmic branch. It controls your eye, upper eyelid, and forehead.
• The maxillary branch. This affects your lower eyelid, cheek, nostril, upper lip, and upper gum.
• The mandibular branch. It runs your jaw, lower lip, lower gum, and some muscles you use for chewing.

The disorder can affect any of the three nerve branches, meaning you could feel pain from your forehead to your jaw. Usually, you’ll feel pain on only one side of your face. Some people feel it on both sides.

Facial pain can be very difficult to diagnose and treat. At Restore Medical partners, we work in combination with local neurologists, ENT surgeons and dentists/oral surgeons to diagnose and control facial pain syndromes. We offer comprehensive treatments including:

• Medical management: Important, pharmacological treatments for medical management of facial pain can be membrane stabilizing drugs, NSAIDs, or opiate-like medications.
• Physical therapy: In order to decrease or prevent functional limitations, physical therapy and occupational therapy are recommended in combination with medical treatments.
• Infusions Techniques: We offer ketamine infusions to re-program the central nervous system, and pain relief can be dramatic and long-lasting.

REFERENCES:

http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/guide/trigeminal-neuralgia#1