It was a great pleasure to be approached by Pain Concern to put together an issue of Pain Matters on facial pain.
Persistent pain occurs in all parts of the body, but facial pain is a particular problem for a number of reasons. The face has a very high representation in the brain, so if you stick a sharp pin in your toe with the same pressure as on your tongue you will tell me that the one in the tongue is of greater intensity. When the face itself is in pain it becomes difficult to communicate, as the pain can be so severe that talking becomes impossible. How do we define what is the face and what is the head? In general, we say that pain from the top of the eyebrows down to the bottom of the chin, including the mouth, is called facial pain. In the introduction I discuss the difficulties of determining who is the right person to consult.