Trigeminal Neuralgia Treatment
Almost all trigeminal neuralgia patients are aware that their pain is caused by teeth. Therefore, they firstly consult a dentist to seek a solution. When the disease is unresponsive to medical treatment, surgery or radiofrequency lesioning is proposed to patient.
Trigeminal neuralgia can be treated by “Gokmen Approach”. As mentioned in Gokmen Approach, trigeminal neuralgia is headache caused by dental-jaw complex. Related problems triggering the pain in dental-jaw complex are primarily corrected. Firstly the area where the pain originates is detected. Most patients with trigeminal neuralgia can show the teeth causing the pain. The treatment of this tooth should be given priority.
The treatment of these teeth involves three stages.
- Cleansing the focus of dental infection
- Required tooth extraction
- Equal balance and load distribution
Trigeminal neuralgia treatment is performed by a team. The doctor administering the treatment (neurologist, pain specialist, family physician) should be well informed about the interference field approach and dental-jaw complex. The rest of the team should consist of dentist specialists (Endodontist, Restorative therapist, Periodontologist, Gnathology and Prosthetic Specialists, Maxillofacial Surgeons).
In some of the patients with trigeminal neuralgia pain starts with a lesion like a tooth decay in one side. As patient cannot bear the pain, problematic tooth is removed. However, this procedure doesn’t help trigeminal neuralgia. At this stage patient is referred to a neurology specialist. In fact the problem in that tooth still continues. Although trigeminal neuralgia has started with a problem in a tooth, it continues with problems in other teeth in that region. Balancing the load distribution is absolutely required for the last step of the treatment.
In some patients, it may not be enough to correct the problem of a tooth. Long-term work with a team consisting of professional dentists is occasionally required.
Provided that all of these stages of treatment are applied appropriately, trigeminal neuralgia can be treated by Gokmen Approach.