[Initial consultation between physician and patients with chronic facial pain].

Background: For various reasons, the initial medical (dental) consultation with patients suffering from chronic pain often does not meet the needs of a "medical dialogue." The aim of this study was to determine whether additional, diagnostically relevant information could be gained from a nonmedical interview.

Methods: The initial dental consultation and an additional conversation with a linguist were taped, transcribed, and compared regarding information obtained.

Results: During the interview with the linguist, additional information was provided pertaining to all important aspects of the patient's history that had not been mentioned during the consultation with the physician. This was particularly prominent with regard to the subjects of "complaint history," "impairment/extent of distress," and "biopsychosocial history," for which four to ten times more keywords were mentioned to the linguist than to the physician.

Conclusion: The result of this study emphasizes the need for improvement of the dentist's method for taking history to diagnose chronic pain and if necessary arrange an additional interview with a medical layman.