RSDM Hosts International Orofacial Pain Conference

Doctors from around the world attended RSDM's conference on orofacial pain.

Some of the top experts in their field gathered at RSDM for a conference last month on developing a better way to diagnose orofacial pain.

They were at work creating a classification system for different types of pain in the mouth and face. Because there’s currently no established way for doctors to identify clusters of symptoms as orofacial pain disorders, many are misdiagnosed.

“A classification system for pains affecting the mouth and face has been done for headaches and everything else, but not for the mouth and face,’’ said Dr. Rafael Benoliel, Director of RSDM’s Center for Temporomandibular Disorders and Orofacial Pain.

For more than two years, Benoliel has been working on the classification system with international authorities on pain.

"The RSDM conference was attended by leaders from American Academy of Orofacial Pain, the Headache Society, the International Society of the Study of Pain and INFORM (previously, the International RDC/TMD Consortium Network). Twenty-six doctors attended.

They worked on creating classifications for different types of orofacial pain, including pain of the joints and muscles, as well as headaches and neuropathic and idiopathic pain.

Benoliel says they hope to have the first version of the classification system ready for review in June.