Patient Information

Welcome to the patient section of the Orofacial Pain website

We hope this website will address some of the issues around orofacial pain. The links in this section (see right-hand sidebar) will help you to understand more about your injury and how you may access advice and care.

There is a lot of advice on where to access information on the links page.

You can also access this basic overview of how pain is classified and information about different pain states.

Patient leaflets for specific pain conditions are available. In addition there is more about specific pain conditions in the Education section.

You may need an urgent referral, if you have developed spontaneous (with–out an identifiable cause) sensory or motor nerve changes. Take this form to your GP or dentist. You may wish to read our Top Ten Tips to beat Orofacial Pain.

Information for Sufferers

Pain is an unpleasant emotional and physical experience. There is healthy pain and unhealthy pain. The healthy pain is there to protect your body from harm is often regarded as an important part of the neuro-immune system. Unhealthy or chronic pain by definition is a disease of the neuromatrix (nerves and brain system) with no health benefits.

30% of the Western population live with chronic pain, it is a common problem. we all respond to pain in different ways depending upon our genetics, culture, beliefs, gender, pain experience, environment, dependants and many other factors.

A TED lecture is definitely worth watching. It explains what pain is:

How long will a referral take?

With the Covid pandemic many services are struggling to re-establish normal services hence there have been many delays in seeing patients and many services are establishing online virtual consultations.

What to expect when you are referred for consultation

In order to see any specialist you require a referral from either your dentist or doctor. This is usually done by letter. Once the letter (or fax/email) referral is received then the appointments process starts. Depending upon the type of service and which hospital you have been referred to the appointment will be secured by letter confirmation followed by a phone call confirmation.

If you are referred to Kings Health Partners OFP clinics you will be contacted and sent a unique confidential password and login for this website. Once logged on you will be asked a series of questions about yourself and your condition.  You will also be able to complete your istory, details about your pain condition and psychometrics questionnaires. This information is collected by Smart survey and is compliant wih NHS security and patient confidentiality

• Goals of treatment
• Pain diary
• List current medications
• History of previous consults, tests and results

See more help and advice about what happens when you are referred.

NHS Clinics

For regional specialists, see the Team page.

Other information

• Living with orofacial pain
• Share your stories
• Pain diaries (see bottom of linked page)
• Virtual patient day
• Help and advice about referrals and what to expect from a pain service