Salutogenesis and the Treatment of a Chronic Oral Pain Patient with Malaise : A Case Report

Abstract

The patients suffering both mentally and physically have recently increased, and these patients are also encounterd in dental office. A case of a patient with chronic and idiopathic oral pain, who had been unsuccessfully treated at several hospitals is presented here with some discussion.

The patient was sixty two years female (152cm, 42kg). Her main complaint was unbearable pain in the right mandible. The infected root canal in the area had been treated by a dentist several years ago. The patient's medical history included various systemic and mental diseases. The patient visited several hospitals and took twenty kinds of medicines.

The diagnosis at our hospital was chronic apical periodontitis due to the infected root canal of the right mandibular second molar. We provided endodontic retreatment and tooth crown restoration, and her symptoms were ameliorated. As the patient had still other complaints, PEG also employed base on salutogenesis. The comprehensive evaluation with an emphasis on Sense of Coherence (SOC) and resorse extraction was performed to reveal her physical. mental, social and existential problems. In addition,

In addition, her standardized score for health performance on “Comprehensive Health Check for Workers” (CHCW) was 41 points, which was a poor result for all dimensions on average.

Therefore, in order to treat those problems comprehensively, the comprehensive therapy by focusing on the problems such as her understanding ability, management capacity, and significance among resources. As a result, her symptoms decreased gradually.

Since the oral symptoms due to increased mental stress were observed, the treatment based on salutogenesis was introduced and finally her healthy daily lifestyle was resumed.