Facial pain - toothache or tumour?

Three cases are presented which illustrate the diagnostic problem of vague facial pain. One patient complained of toothache and was finally proved to have an intraventricular meningioma. The second had been diagnosed as trigeminal neuralgia but was finally found to have a meningioma. The third presented with facial pain, underwent 2 weeks of intensive neurological investigations and the pain was finally related to pulpitis in an upper molar. These three cases serve to stimulate a discussion on the problems of diagnosis of facial pain and the role of computerised axial tomography in this field.