Facial Nerve Pain – Trigeminal Neuralgia
Trigeminal neuralgia is a painful disorder affecting and stemming from the nerves themselves, rather than the surrounding structures (i.e. muscles, joints, teeth). As anyone who suffers from this disease can tell you, trigeminal neuralgia or facial nerve pain is like a bolt of electricity, jabbing or stabbing pain on a certain part of the face. These active episodes may last from minutes to days and then be gone for weeks to months. Sometimes they are set off by simple stimuli like a gentle stroke or touch to the affected area. To better understand this disease, we need to look at the difference between this and other sources of facial pain.
Function of the Nervous System
Nerves run throughout our bodies and innervate anything and everything for one reason: to relay information back and forth between the brain and the organs they innervate. They are like highways for information. When you touch something hot, that information is taken from the point of contact to the brain. The brain perceives the object as being hot and in turn, sends a signal to our hand to remove it from the hot object before we get burned. This is just one example of what nerves do in our bodies. Now let’s say this same nerve that is responsible for transmitting information started generating information (or signals) on its own. For instance, let’s assume the nerve that innervates your eardrums starts generating signals on its own (without there being any actual sound). Once the brain gets these signals, it perceives them as sound. That’s why some people have ringing in their ears without there being any actual ringing noise.
Trigeminal Neuralgia – Disfunction of Nervous System
There are a total of 12 Cranial Nerves (CN for short) which are responsible for transmitting information to and from the brain in the head and neck region. Information like taste, smell, and vision travel along these nerves. Of these 12 CNs, one is responsible for transmitting about 80% of information to and from our facial region. This is CN V (5th cranial nerve) and it splits into 3 main branches, thus the term “trigeminal.” One branch innervates the upper facial region (forehead, eyes, upper cheek area, nose). The middle trunk innervates the mid-face region (upper lip, jaw, gums, teeth, parotid glands, etc.). The lowest branch innervates the lower facial third (lower lip, tongue, lower jaw, teeth, and gums). Trigeminal neuralgia can affect any of these 3 trunks.
Trigeminal Neuralgia – Treatment
Treatment for this disorder is aimed at reducing the symptoms. The reason is that the true cause of this disease is not known. It is believed to be due to pressure placed on the nerve bundles by various vascular systems (arteries, veins). Some medications designed to treat other disorders are found to be helpful in treating facial nerve pain. There are also surgical procedures aimed at either desensitizing the nerve or relieving the pressure placed on the nerve bundles. To learn more about trigeminal neuralgia, follow this link to WebMD.
Fortunately, this disease affects a very small percentage of the population. And what’s more interesting is that this diagnosis at times has been incorrect. Not all facial pain can be called trigeminal neuralgia and to do so would cause a large number of treatable cases to remain untreated. Contact us now to schedule your consultation to see how we can help you with this disease.