Abstract
We report a case study of gingival pain patient who had undergone dental treatment, but still suffered from a stabbing pain in the right mandiblar gingiva, for the first couple of minutes at mealtime.
The patient was a 62-year-old retired male. He seemed somewhat obsessive but was not depressed or anxious.
With administration of the Kanpo herbal drug, called Keishikajutsubu-to, resulted in the stabbing pain changing to a sense of gingival discomfort. Nine weeks after beginning the medication, the patient felt a more unpleasant gingival sensation together with a feeling of anxiety that his teeth were not being treated. Dental treatment was restarted. During dental treatment, the patient showed progressive improvement in the clinical symptom. However the pain returned severely toward the end of dental treatment. We presented the Kanpo herbal drug Hangekoboku-to, for anxiety, because we thought the patient was reminded of his feeling of anxiety as he reached retirement. Symptons had improved 4 weeks after beginning that medication. For a follow-up period of 3 months, the patient was free of pain and did not reveal any clinical symptom.
We concluded that this case suffered from gingival pain as a defense mechanism in response to his anxiety about retirement.
