Alveolar cavitational osteopathosis. Manifestations of an infectious process and its implication in the causation of chronic pain.

A recently discovered oral disease process of infectious origin, characterized by nonradiographically detectable, hollow, pathologic, alveolar cavitational lesions of significant size, is described. This oral infectious disease process, termed alveolar cavitational osteopathosis, is causally implicated not only in the genesis of certain craniofacial pain syndromes, among them idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia and atypical facial pain, but also in chronic pain syndromes remote from the craniofacial region including the back, chest, arms, legs and cervical areas. A diagnostic process is presented which serves to define the locus of nonradiographically detectable alveolar cavitational osteopathosis and correlates a given pathological site to a given area of pain. Comprehensive schematics have been developed defining the pain pathways emanating from the oral cavity and their specific relationship to sites of perceived pain both in the craniofacial region and other areas of the body. The treatment modality described serves to induce bone growth within the cavitational lesions, resulting in the subsequent eradication of the cavity. The abolition of osteopathosis results in significant or total disappearance of pain symptomatology.