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Patients complaining of pain in tooth bearing regions of the oral cavity may be suffering from a disorder unrelated to pulpal pathology. Unnecessary dental procedures may complicate the diagnosis and aggravate the underlying disorder. Referral of pain to the oral cavity and teeth may easily be explained by the extensive neurological connections of the trigeminal brain stem complex with other cranial nerves and input from the upper segment of the cervical spine. Accurate diagnosis of painful disorders can be a complex and time consuming process. The primary responsibility of the dentist in this scenario is to rule out the possibility of odontogenic pain.

Paroxysmal hemicrania (PH) is one of the trigeminal autonomic cephalgias (TACs), a group of primary headache disorders characterized by unilateral trigeminal distribution pain that occurs in association with prominent ipsilateral cranial autonomic features. The TACs are relatively rare, which is likely to be why they are poorly recognized in primary care. TACs will thus be referred to neurologists eventually, offering an excellent opportunity to diagnose and treat these patients. PH responds in a dramatic and absolute fashion to indomethacin. The importance of recognizing these syndromes is underscored by their excellent but highly selective response to treatment. This is the case report of our patient with PH and the review of current knowledge about pathophysiology of TACs, as well as differential diagnosis of other entities from this headache group.

Classifying headaches as primary (migraine, tension-type or cluster) or secondary can facilitate evaluation and management A detailed headache history helps to distinguish among the primary headache disorders. "Red flags" for secondary disorders include sudden onset of headache, onset of headache after 50 years of age, increased frequency or severity of headache, new onset of headache with an underlying medical condition, headache with concomitant systemic illness, focal neurologic signs or symptoms, papilledema and headache subsequent to head trauma. A thorough neurologic examination should be performed, with abnormal findings warranting neuroimaging to rule out intracranial pathology. The preferred imaging modality to rule out hemorrhage is noncontrast computed tomographic (CT) scanning followed by lumbar puncture if the CT scan is normal. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is more expensive than CT scanning and less widely available; however, MRI reveals more detail and is necessary for imaging the posterior fossa. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis can help to confirm or rule out hemorrhage, infection, tumor and disorders related to CSF hypertension or hypotension. Referral is appropriate for patients with headaches that are difficult to diagnose, or that worsen or fail to respond to management

Background: Postpartum cerebral angiopathy is associated with the use of of ergot alkaloids. The exact mechanism is unclear but may be related to their sympathomimetic properties, as evidenced in patients already on other ergot derivatives who deteriorated only after taking additional sympathomimetic drugs. We postulate that sympathomimetic agents, independent of ergot alkaloids, may produce the same complication., Case Description: A postpartum patient, initially presenting with headaches, subsequently manifested rapid neurological deterioration after ingesting isometheptene, a sympathomimetic drug. She was not on any ergot derivative but presented similar clinical and radiological manifestations. She experienced increased headache severity, visual disturbance, and seizures associated with multiple segmental cerebral vasoconstriction on angiography and increased T2-weighted signal in the occipital areas on magnetic resonance imaging., Conclusions: This case is additional evidence that sympathomimetic actions of some drugs, such as ergot derivatives and isometheptene, may lead to postpartum cerebral angiopathy. Documentation of medication used by postpartum women suffering similar complications is needed to verify these findings.

There is a definite relationship between the vascular type of benign sexual headache and benign exertional headache. Forty five patients with benign vascular sexual headache were reviewed. Twenty seven (60%) experienced benign vascular sexual headache alone and eighteen (40%) had experienced both benign vascular sexual headache and benign exertional headache on at least one occasion. The mean age was 34.3 years with a male:female ratio of 5.4:1. Thirty patients with a history of benign vascular sexual headache were followed for an average of 74 months. A personal history of migraine was found in 47% of cases and a family history of migraine in 30%. Forty one per cent of patients with benign vascular sexual headache alone had recurrences after diagnosis, and stress and fatigue were considered major contributing factors to the initial and recurrent headache. Nine patients had experienced benign vascular sexual headache and benign exertional headache within 72 hours of each other on at least one occasion, often with a residual headache between the two. Four patients experienced their benign vascular sexual headache and benign exertional headache separated by months to years. The prognosis of benign vascular sexual headache and the clinical and possible pathophysiological relationships between benign vascular sexual headache and benign exertional headache are discussed. Knowledge of the interrelationships of these varieties of headache is valuable in the counselling of patients.

The headache histories obtained from clinical interviews of 600 patients were analysed by computer to see whether patients could be separated systematically into clinical categories and to see whether sets of symptoms commonly reported together differed in distribution among the categories. The computer classification procedure assigned 537 patients to the same category as their clinical diagnosis, the majority of discrepancies between clinical and computer classifications involving common migraine, tension-vascular and tension headache. Cluster headache emerged as a clearly-definable syndrome, and neurological symptoms during headache were most prevalent in the classical migraine group. However, the classical migraine, common migraine, tension-vascular and tension headache categories differed in terms of the number, rather than the nature, of common migraine features. Whether the two extremes of this migraine-tension headache spectrum are different disorders can be determined only by studies of their pathophysiology.