Extraoral facial pain

A review of complications of odontogenic infections

Life-threatening infections of odontogenic or upper airway origin may extend to potential spaces formed by fascial planes of the lower head and upper cervical area. Complications include airway obstruction, mediastinitis, necrotizing fascitis, cavernous sinus thrombosis, sepsis, thoracic empyema, Lemierre's syndrome, cerebral abscess, orbital abscess, and osteomyelitis. The incidence of these "space infections" has been greatly reduced by modern antibiotic therapy. However, serious morbidity and even fatalities continue to occur. This study reviews complications of odontogenic infections. The search done was based on PubMed and Google Scholar, and an extensive published work search was undertaken. Advanced MEDLINE search was performed using the terms "odontogenic infections," "complications," and "risk factors."

Headache and facial pain in children and adolescents

Headaches commonly affect children and adolescents. Proper diagnosis and management is dependent on thorough history taking and a comprehensive physical and neurological examination. Additional diagnostic testing is indicated in some cases. The second edition of the headache classification system by the International Headache Society has recently become available. The classification system is primarily based on adults, but we discussed the subtle distinctions made regarding children. In addition to the primary headache types of migraine, tension-type, and cluster headaches, we discussed selected symptomatic headaches. Emphasis was placed on migraine and tension-type headaches because these are the most common pediatric headache types. We briefly discussed genetic aspects of headaches. Genetic factors have been hypothesized for chronic tension headache and other forms of migraine, but genetic linkage has only been established for familial hemiplegic migraine. We reviewed the nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic therapies, including abortive and prophylactic medications for various age groups. Unlike headaches, facial neuralgias are rare in otherwise healthy children. Facial pain may be neurological, vascular, or dental in origin. We focused on trigeminal neuralgia, glossopharyngeal neuralgia, occipital neuralgia, and Bell's palsy as neurological causes of facial pain in children.