Efficacy of antidepressants on orofacial pain: a systematic review.

Abstract

Orofacial pain is a common complaint with multiple diagnoses. There is controversy about the effectiveness of antidepressants for the management of orofacial pain disorders. In order to be able to make a best evidence choice between available antidepressants for the treatment of orofacial pain, a systematic review was conducted of existing randomized controlled trials of antidepressants. Trials were identified from the Pubmed database up to March 2012, from references in retrieved reports and from references in review articles. Six articles were found and included in this review. Four studies were randomized placebo-controlled trials and two studies were randomized active-controlled trials. Two independent investigators reviewed these articles using a 15-item checklist. All six trials were of high quality according to the 15-item criteria. Nevertheless there was limited evidence to support the effectiveness of antidepressants in orofacial pain disorders, because of the heterogeneity of treatment modalities and the low number of randomized controlled trials per diagnose. More randomized controlled trials are needed to come to a firm conclusion for the use of antidepressants for orofacial pain disorders.

• Authors: W J J M Martin, R S G M Perez, D B Tuinzing, T Forouzanfar
• Journal: International journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery (Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg) Vol. 41 Issue 12 Pg. 1532-9 (Dec 2012) ISSN: 1399-0020 [Electronic] Denmark
• PMID: 23041255 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review, Systematic Review)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2012 International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Antidepressive Agents
• Placebos

Topics

• Antidepressive Agents (therapeutic use)
• Facial Pain (drug therapy)
• Humans
• Placebos
• Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic