Management challenges in psychiatric patients with severe mandibular pain: a case report

Abstract

A 68-year-old man was admitted to the psychiatric unit of a major hospital as he was threatening self-harm due to uncontrolled left mandibular pain. Although he had significant psychiatric issues, psychiatric treatment did not help him. Further review at three weeks post-admission showed that he had had many months of unsuccessful dental treatment and this had triggered his psychiatric crisis. Multidisciplinary investigation and communication showed that he had trigeminal neuralgia secondary to vascular changes in his temporal lobe. He responded well to explanation and anti-neuralgic medication. Simple guidelines on how dental practitioners can cope with such patients are presented.