Descriptors of Pain Quality Associate with Pulpal and Periapical Diagnostic Tests in Patients Experiencing Acute Tooth Pain

Abstract

Introduction Introduction Material And Methods Results Discussion References Dental pain causes a great deal of suffering, stress, and interference in the lives of patients, and relief from pain is a common reason for seeking dental care (Heaivilin et al. 2011). However, how we typically measure pain in dentistry does little to capture the complex experience of pain. Scales such as the visual analog scale (VAS) or numeric rating scale (NRS) are the most commonly used, and allow for the quantification of pain intensity. Used alone, as is most often then case, these scales are quite limited, given the multidimensional nature of pain, with sensory, affective, and temporal dimensions mediated by complex and varied biological mechanisms (Dworkin et al. 2005; von Hehn et al. 2012). Pain ...