Headache and mouth

Headache and mouth

A 2010 survey shows that in Spain suffers headache (headache) to 35% of the population, with a corresponding impact on the quality of working life and the consequences because when this pain is set by chronic (more than 6 months duration) leads to anxiety and depression. Within the diversity of causes of these pains , those originating in the teeth and other structures of the mouth up a large proportion.

The pain is considered as the most common symptom among humans.

 It includes not only the feelings aroused by noxious stimuli but also the reactions and responses to these stimuli. The sensation of pain depends on many different factors, including the subject's ability to distinguish where, how and how much it hurts, as well as attention, emotional state, knowledge and motivation of the sufferer. The pain is therefore complex and subjective experience.

The headache and pain originating including mouth, accounting for 20% of medical consultations and 40% of dental practices . This type of pain can be a mild process as musculoskeletal pain in the subject stress caused anxious particularly in the chewing muscles clenching ( bruxism ) or serious diseases like pains of a malignant tumor , one intracerebral hematoma or subarachnoid hemorrhage.

The emotional significance of the mouth and face and the high prevalence of diseases and dental treatments and surgical oral may explain the frequency ofpain originating in the orofacial region . The basis of appropriate treatment is a correct diagnosis.

The pain in prehistory, not caused by mechanical causes, had magical connotations associated with evil spirits incarnate. It was with amulets, spells, magic spells and rituals performed by the magician or sorcerer. In some places healers and shamans used herbs, massage, heat and pressure.

In ancient civilizations the pain takes on a religious component and is related to sin. Sick and priest pray for forgiveness. Egyptians, Babylonians and Assyrians used trepanation, narcotics (opium, henbane and mandrake), heat, cold and massage. The Chinese acupuncture.

For Mediterranean religions the pain is a punishment , a disgrace to those who do not submit to the will of God. To the Hindu the pain is a blessing in disguise that appears in our lives to protect us, teach us and keep us on the right path. For the Buddhist the pain is caused by the frustration of unfulfilled desires.

In Greece and Rome was considered the pain and illness as a result of a physiological disorder and unnatural. Health and happiness would be part of the natural order, balance and harmony. I thought that the brain was the center of the feelings and reason (Democritus and Plato). Estraton Eristrato Alexandria and describe the central nervous system and sensory and motor nerves. But Aristotle was thinking that the heart was the center of sensations, a concept that endured for 23 centuries. Dioscorides and Galen used against neuralgia and headachemandrake, opium, henbane and hemp.

During the Middle Ages the pain was interpreted as a reduction of penalties and Avicenna in the eleventh century and described 15 different types of pain . With the revival lays the groundwork Modern Pain (Leonardo, pons, Vesalius and Descartes). The morphine is isolated in 1806 and one of the great discoveries of the nineteenth century was the general anesthesia.

An American dentist, Horace Wells on December 14, 1844 shows that it was possible to extract a tooth without pain using nitrous oxide gas as a general anesthetic. Then also another dentist, Morton applied the ether in the same direction, giving birth to the new surgery.

Today we can say that the pain is sometimes a defense mechanism, security and alarm. Eliminate the pain without analyzing the cause amounts to disconnect an alarm system and thus thinking that we are safe.

As fundamental experience of human life the pain is a positive character and probably necessary in the process of psychological maturation. The pain is inherent in the condition and human development.

Faced with a chronic headache or frequently caused sharp structures of the face and mouth ( teeth , muscles, joints and nerves) is mandatory adequate diagnosis and dentist is essential specialist consultation prior to any treatment.