Case history
Case history
A middle-aged woman presents with a complaint of frequent (once or twice daily for 3 weeks), brief (lasting several seconds) episodes of intense, sharp left-sided jaw pain. She has experienced these attacks for several years, but they had previously been relatively rare (1 episode daily for several consecutive days followed by months with no attacks). She says that episodes are sometimes brought on by eating but can occur without an apparent stimulus. The patient states that even though the pain is brief, she lives in fear of repeat flares.
Other presentations
Maxillary (V2)/mandibular (V3) distribution symptoms occur in the majority of patients. This can present as sharp pain running from the mouth to the jaw (commonly mistaken for dental pain) or less commonly as pain from the upper lip to the orbit. Symptoms in an exclusively ophthalmic (V1) distribution are the least common, and patients typically refer to the pain as headache.
Use of this content is subject to our disclaimer