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Aim: Auriculotemporal neuralgia (AN) is a rare condition characterized by severe, stabbing, unilateral pain inadequately described in the literature. Often coexisting with other conditions sharing the same innervation, and this overlap complicates clinical interpretation, leading to diagnostic errors and inappropriate therapeutic choices. The absence of AN in headache and facial pain diagnostic criteria hampers access to crucial information for diagnostic reasoning.Thus, we aimed to report a case of AN overlapped with another orofacial pain condition. Method and Result: We present a case of overlap between chronic orofacial myofascial pain (MP) and AN, where conservative MP treatment did not provide the patient with complete pain relief. After diagnosing AN, a single anesthetic block induced complete pain remission over a 2‐year follow‐up. Conclusion: These findings support reintroducing AN into diagnostic criteria, aiding clinicians in diagnostic reasoning, and preventing unnecessary interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent evidence suggests neuro‐immune mechanisms may link dietary patterns to chronic painful conditions (CPC). In the research field of oro‐facial pain (OFP), studies focuses primarily on dietary mechanical limitations due to pain and dysfunction. Objective: This narrative review aimed to overview the role of nutrition on CPC, with emphasis on temporomandibular disorder (TMD), enlightening OFP researcher on dietary assessment possibilities and providing directions for studies in the field of OFP and nutrition. Methods: A PubMed database search was performed using the MeSH and non‐MeSH descriptors: "temporomandibular joint disorder"; "orofacial pain"; "musculoskeletal pain"; "chronic pain disorders"; "nutrition"; "diet"; "dietary therapy"; "dietary intake" and "inflammation". No time restrictions were applied. Literature reviews, systematic reviews, meta‐analyses and clinical and pre‐clinical trials were included. Results: Exogenous oxidants from unhealthy dietary patterns may contribute to peripheral and central pro‐inflammatory immune signalling leading to peripheral and central sensitization. Furthermore, diets rich in bioactive compounds are suggested to contribute to pain management of CPC. High dietary intake of ultra‐processed foods impacts the quality of the diet and shows adverse health outcomes. In this context, the role of nutrition on TMD remains overlooked. Conclusion: Considering diet may influence CPC, allied with the scarcity of studies evaluating the role of nutrition on TMD, well‐designed clinical trials based on dietary assessments and measurements capable of evaluating food quality, UPF consumption and nutrient adequacy—added to serum nutrient levels evaluation—are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Conditioned pain modulation (CPM) is a potential predictor of treatment response that has not been studied in temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Objectives: We conducted a randomised, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial (RCT) of duloxetine in addition to self‐management (SM) strategies to investigate its efficacy to reduce pain intensity in painful TMD patients. Moreover, we investigated whether baseline CPM would predict the duloxetine efficacy to reduce TMD pain intensity. Methods: Eighty participants were randomised to duloxetine 60 mg or placebo for 12 weeks. The primary outcomes were the change in the pain intensity from baseline to week‐12 and CPM‐sequential paradigm at baseline. Safety, physical and emotional functioning outcomes were also evaluated. Results: Of 80 participants randomised, 78 were included in intention‐to‐treat analysis. Pain intensity decreased for SM‐duloxetine and SM‐placebo but did not differ between groups (p =.82). A more efficient CPM was associated with a greater pain intensity reduction regardless of the treatment group (p =.035). Physical and emotional functioning did not differ between groups, but adverse events (p =.014), sleep impairment (p =.003) and catastrophizing symptoms (p =.001) were more prevalent in SM‐duloxetine group. Conclusion: This study failed to provide evidence of a beneficial effect of adding duloxetine to SM strategies for treatment of painful TMD. Nonetheless, this RCT has shown the feasibility of applying pain modulation assessment to predict short‐term treatment response in painful TMD patients, which confirms previous finds that CPM evaluation may serve a step forward in individualising pain treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous evidence indicates significant association between genetic polymorphisms and phenotypes related to pain sensitivity in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Despite the important advances in cataloguing diverse factors such as sleep disorders, anxiety and depression, the interrelated mechanisms of painful TMD aetiopathogenesis still need investigation. Objectives: This case–control study aimed to evaluate the influence of genetic polymorphisms (rs6296, rs6295, rs1799971, rs4680, rs4633, rs4818) and psychosocial factors on the mechanical pain sensitivity and endogenous pain modulation in women with painful TMD and asymptomatic controls. Methods: We evaluated six independent variables: anxiety levels, depression, stress, sleep quality, pain catastrophising and genetic polymorphisms, and four dependent variables: mechanical pain threshold (MPT), pressure pain threshold (PPT), wind‐up ratio (WUR) and conditioned pain modulation (CPM) collected at masseter (trigeminal) and hand (spinal) areas in a sample of 95 painful TMD patients and 85 controls. A regression model was used to test the possible effect of the independent variables on dependent variables. Results: The regression model was significant for MPT (F11,168 = 9.772; R2 =.390). Painful TMD diagnoses and sleep quality were associated with trigeminal MPT (B coefficient = −.499; and B coefficient = −.211, respectively). WUR was associated with rs6295 and rs6746030, respectively, for the spinal and the trigeminal area. Conclusion: Genetic polymorphisms had a slight contribution to endogenous pain modulation as indicated by the significant association with WUR but did not contribute to mechanical pain sensitivity. On the other hand, the presence of painful TMD and the sleep quality contributed significantly to mechanical pain sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]