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BackgroundWhile the psychosocial morbidity of orofacial pain (OFP) is widely recognized, the differential impact of musculoskeletal, neuropathic and neurovascular symptoms on pain and psychosocial function in individuals with and without coexisting OFP conditions is unclear.Materials and methodsThis was a comparative cross‐sectional study of 350 consecutive patients attending an OFP clinic; 244 completed standardized self‐report measures of pain experience, mood, and generic and oral health‐related quality of life (HRQoL). The impact of musculoskeletal, neuropathic and neurovascular symptoms on measures was assessed using linear and logistic generalized linear models.ResultsTwo hundred patients were diagnosed with a neuropathic condition: 125 with musculoskeletal pain and 101 with (neurovascular) headache disorders. 23% of patients presented with multiple OFP conditions; this was more common in patients with neurovascular (62%) than neuropathic (21%) and/or musculoskeletal orofacial symptoms (28%). Patients with neurovascular symptoms experienced significantly higher levels of pain, evidenced less pain self‐efficacy and had poorer overall health. Neuropathic OFP was significantly associated with greater psychological and social oral health disability. Multiple OFP symptoms were not linked to pain severity or psychosocial function, although health scores were worse for patients with neurovascular pain and neuropathic/musculoskeletal symptoms compared with patients with only neurovascular symptoms.ConclusionsThe profile and degree of psychosocial morbidity in patients with OFP is significantly related to the types of presenting orofacial symptoms. Patients with neurovascular pain present with higher pain levels and have poorer health while those with neuropathic pain have higher oral functional morbidity; both may require more complex multidisciplinary management.

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Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a chronic idiopathic or primary orofacial pain condition, defined by the International Headache Society as 'an intraoral burning or dysaesthetic sensation, recurring daily for more than 2 hours/day over more than 3 months, without clinically evident causative lesions'. 1 The condition has previously been known as glossodynia, glossopyrosis, oral dysaesthesia

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