Facial pain is generally a common symptom of an injury or headache. However, it may also be the cause of an underlying serious medical condition like chronic sinusitis.
While experiencing any form of facial pain, you may have different sensations on your face depending on what is causing it. More often than not, it may be due to nerve damage, muscle weakness, or headaches.
Anyone can get Facial Pain, but it tends to be more common in women who are in their 40s or 50s. People who have had dental injuries or mouth surgery in the past may be more likely to get facial pain.
What are the causes of facial pain
- Headaches like migraines, cluster headaches and sinusitis
- Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJ) that cause pain and movement problems in jaw joints and muscles
- Dental problems or dental abscess (a pus buildup on the tissues of a tooth)
- Sialadenitis, a rare infection of the salivary glands
Because of their broad and extensive training, Dr.Padhye is highly knowledgeable and skilled in the diagnosis of facial pain which can be the presentation of a vast range of pathological and psychological conditions.
The differential diagnoses of facial pain include common toothache and other dental causes, sinus disease, neuralgias such as trigeminal neuralgia, and rare conditions including malignancy in the oral cavity, oropharynx, nasopharynx, and skull base.
Pain due to temporomandibular joint disorders affects a significant proportion of the population at one time or other with various symptom patterns such as facial arthromyalgia, atypical facial pain, atypical odontalgia, oral dysaesthesia, and ‘phantom bite’.
The diagnosis can often be made by taking a careful history of the pain and a range of investigations are useful, including radiographs, CT and MR scans, and ultrasound in addition to thorough clinical examination.
Management is sometimes carried out with other specialties including neurologists, neurosurgeons, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and consultants working in pain clinics.
Symptoms of tingling sensation on your face is due to:
- Short periods of stabbing, shooting, and tingling pain.
- Pain during activities like brushing your teeth, washing your face, shaving, or putting on makeup.
- Pain that can last a few seconds up to several minutes.
- Recurrent attacks, followed by periods of lull.
- Pain generally on one side of your face.
- Frequent, worsened attacks over time.
- Pain mostly in your cheek, jaw, teeth, gums, and lips.