Abstract
Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a psychoneurotic disease involving the sensory branches of the trigeminal nerve (V) and characterized by severe and persistent pain. Pain, which is the most typical feature of the disease, is described by patients as short or long term, electric shock, burning, stinging and throbbing. Pain may involve all sensory branches of the nerve, and it is more common in areas innervated by the maxillary (V2) and mandibular (V3) nerve. Therefore, meticulous and regular follow-ups performed by dentists and oral surgeons and accurate examination of the cranial nerves are very important in order to avoid inappropriate treatments in patients who apply to dentists due to toothaches confused with facial pain. Otherwise, if the correct clinical history and pain type are not questioned, root canal treatments or even tooth extractions can be applied to patients due to misdiagnosis, also the pain does not go away. As can be seen in the three cases discussed in this article, it has been determined that many of the patients' teeth were treated with root canal treatment before the diagnosis of TN, and worse they were removed. It is very important for dentists to be careful about the distinction between TN-induced pain and toothache, in order to prevent incorrect treatments to be applied to patients.