Management of Medically Unexplained Chronic Orofacial Pain: Justification for Behavioural Interventions

Chronic Orofacial Pain (COFP) is currently treated according to a biomedical model, particularly in primary care, where management often involves invasive and irreversible treatments that are not evidence based and do not improve outcomes for patients. Studies have shown that COFP shares a number of risk factors and maintaining features with other medically unexplained conditions/symptoms (MUS), which are associated with psychological, social and behavioural dysfunctions. Evidence from studies of COFP and other MUS suggests that CBT based therapies may be effective in targeting both maintaining and exacerbating features and subsequently improve outcomes for patients. This piece positions COFP as the MUS of dentistry, affording a unique perspective in terms of exploring possible non-invasive management techniques, which should be a priority for future testing.