A study of oral pain experience in sickle cell patients.

This study was designed to measure the degree of association between dental pain and its frequency during sickle cell crisis. Randomized study and control groups, each consisting of outpatient clinic patients, were selected. Each subject was interviewed via a questionnaire designed to record information describing immediate and past experiences of dental pain and its characteristics. The results were analyzed statistically. This investigation showed that there is an increase of dental pain, in the apparent absence of specific pathosis, in sickle cell patients during crisis. It was found that 36% of these patients had experienced some significant transitory pain in the oral-maxillofacial complex either alone or as part of the crisis syndrome.