Pain Case Study

CONTENTS:

1. INTRODUCTION………………………….…………….……...……...………...2
2. PAIN………………………………….……………..………………..……..……..4
2.1 Anatomy and Physiology of Pain…………….……………………….……………4
2.2 Types of Pain…………………………………….…………………….…….……..5
2.3 Pathways of Pain……………………………….…………………………………..6
2.4 Acute Pain………………………………….……………………………………....7
2.5 Chronic Pain………………………………….…………………………………….7
3. PSYCHOGENIC PAIN………………………………………………….….……8
3.1 Diagnosis of Psychogenic Pain……...……………………….…………………….8
3.2 Mechanism of Psychogenic Pain…………………………….……………………..8
3.3 Treatment of Psychogenic Pain……………………………………………………9
4. PAIN AND QUALITY OF LIFE……………………………..…………….…....9
4.1 Pain and Anxiety…………………………………………………………….........10
4.2 Treatment……………………………………………………………………….....11

It warns us to prevent further damage. When someone has a pain in maxillofacial area, should go to dentist. Most people ignore going to dentist because of dental phobia. It does not only have negative effect to patients by avoiding dental treatment, it also affects the dentist to lose patients.

Dental fear and anxiety is common among the people such as 9% to 15% of Americans avoid visiting their dentist because of anxiety and fear. (4) People mostly hate or afraid going to a dentist because of pain that they experienced in the dental office.

Usually kids are afraid of the dentist but there are also a lot of adults. The instruments, which are used in dentistry, previous bad experiences or the sound of the drill usually, trigger the fear. Among my 2 years of experience as a dental student, I can see the fear in their eyes when they see the anesthetic needle.

Some distractions can be used in the dental office such as iPods for listening calming music, televisions, iPads to play, and maybe virtual reality glasses that put your eyes and mind in another realm. Also the design of the office is important such as putting fresh flowers, fish aquarium, small waterfalls, and calming colors of the office.

(21)

In the early times when dentistry was discovered in 7000 BC, the treatment methods were much more painful comparing to the modern dentistry treatments which we are using now. Modern dentistry started to developed between 1650 and 1800. Since then it is an everyday developing part of medicine. Nowadays, modern dentistry is comfortable and easy. There is almost nothing left for the patients to be afraid of seeing dentist. Most dental procedures can be done easily with local anesthesia and some of them can be done without anesthesia.

“The pain perception involves far more than mere sensation. The affective and evaluative components of pain are often as important as the production and transmission of the pain signal. Among the patients who has chronic pain, these emotional aspects are important but knowing the psychology of pain can improve the treatment of acute pain as well”. (17)

In this paper, I will explain the psychology of pain, how pain effects the quality of life and managing pain in