Neuropathic Pain Management in a Tertiary Care Oral Medicine Unit

Neuropathic pain is initiated by a primary lesion or dysfunction of the nervous system and can be triggered by local trauma or systemic disorders. Neuropathic pain has a complex presentation which is often a diagnostic challenge and requires a multidisciplinary approach in management. Neuropathic pain prevalence is estimated between 1 and 10%, with few studies reporting that neuropathic components can be found in 35% of all painful syndromes. Our aim of the study was to evaluate the most effective treatment modality in management of neuropathic pain. Retrospective analysis was done at the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology of Saveetha University hospital from June 2019 - March 2020. A total of 32 patients who were diagnosed clinically as Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) and Post herpetic neuralgia (PHN) cases were included in the study. Out of the 32 patients, females (56.2%) were predominant than males (43.7%).Majority of the study patients age group were 60-70 years (37.5%) followed by 50-60 years (31.25%).The study cases consisted of about 96.8% of TN followed by 3.1% of PHN cases. The left trigeminal nerve (53.13%) was more commonly affected when compared to the right trigeminal (46.88%).The branches of the trigeminal nerve affected were higher in V3 (62.5%) and V2 (18.75%).