Orofacial Pain: Pharmacologic Paradigms for Therapeutic Intervention.

Pain is a universal experience with profound effects on the physiology, psychology, and sociology of the population. Orofacial pain (OFP) conditions are especially prevalent and can be severely debilitating to a patient's health-related quality of life. Evidence-based clinical trials suggest that pharmacologic therapy may significantly improve patient outcomes either alone or when used as part of a comprehensive treatment plan for OFP. The aim of this article is to provide therapeutic options from a pharmacologic perspective to treat a broad spectrum of OFP. Clinical-based systemic and topical applied pharmaceutical approaches are presented to treat the most common OFP syndromes.