Predictive role of gnathological techniques for the treatment of persistent idiopathic facial pain (PIFP).

Introduction/background: Persistent idiopathic craniofacial pain (PIFP) is a heterogeneous group of pain syndromes whose main characteristic is the daily presence of persistent pain for at least 3 months. The pathophysiology of PIFP is still not entirely known and probably related to biological and psychological factors. Although PIFP has been attributed to the central neuron activity, the importance of masticatory muscles as a possible pathogenic mechanism was recently demonstrated.

The role of electrophysiological investigations of masticatory muscles in patients with persistent idiopathic facial pain.

Introduction: The authors tried to establish whether there is any electrophysiological difference of masticatory muscle activity between patients with persistent idiopathic facial pain (PIFP) and healthy subjects.

Methods: Twenty-eight PIFP patients (6 men and 22 women, mean age 40 years) and 28 normal subjects (12 men and 16 women, mean age 40 years) underwent EMG of temporal and masseter muscles before and after transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS).

Results: After TENS stimulation, the mean amplitude difference was found to be smaller than the baseline before TENS in the PIFP patients compared with healthy subjects.

Usefulness of an occlusal device in the treatment of medication overuse headache and persistent idiopathic facial pain: preliminary results.

There is a debate in literature about the therapeutic usefulness of oral devices in patients suffering from Medication Overuse Headache (MOH) or in patients suffering from Persistent Idiopathic Facial Pain (PIFP). From the case histories of 3356 patients, referred to us with a diagnosis of chronic craniofacial pain for assessment of the eventual application of an occlusal device to correct an impaired neuromuscular relationship between the mandible and the maxilla, we selected, following the criteria of the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-3beta), two groups of patients suffering from MOH and PIFP. All patients of the two groups underwent a Kinesiographic exam and an EMG to evaluate the freeway space (FWS).

Transcutaneous supraorbital neurostimulation for the prevention of chronic migraine: a prospective, open-label preliminary trial.

Since chronic migraine is difficult to treat and often associated with medication overuse, non-invasive neurostimulation approaches are worth investigating. Transcutaneous supraorbital neurostimulation using the Cefaly device is promising as a non-invasive preventive treatment for episodic migraine, but no data are available for chronic migraine. Our aim was to perform a preliminary evaluation of the efficacy of the Cefaly device for the prophylaxis of chronic migraine with or without medication overuse.