The signs of oral and dental pain could be very subtle and easily missed. In general the degree of pain needs to very significant before any such symptoms or signs becomes obvious, even to owners and carers that have a very close relationship with their animal companions. The more obvious of these signs of oral or dental pain includes include:
• ptyalism (drooling)
• hypersalivation
• poor coat quality because of a lack of normal grooming
• halitosis
• rubbing or pawing at the face
• subtle changes in behaviour that varies from agitation and the right reluctance to have the mouth and face touched or examined to being withdrawn and depressed
• hyporhexia
• Anorexia generally only develops in cases of extreme oral pain.

During this lecture we will explore the trigeminal nerve and its branches and the area’s innovated by the three different branches of this fifth cranial nerve in different species.

The innervation of structures of the face, the oral cavity and teeth is very similar in all mammals and one should therefore assume that pain perception in humans, primates and other mammals are very similar. With the current understanding of nociception, it is therefore safe to assume that humans and at least other mammals experience pain in the same way. With this in mind it is important to understand that any insult that would cause oral or dental pain in humans would probably cause the same sensation of pain in these animals. Then lack of obvious signs of pain might therefore be a communication problem between animals and their human carers, rather fundamental concept it will help clinicians to assume the presence of acute or chronic pain based on whether similar insults would be perceived as painful by humans. With this in mind it can safely be assumed that analgesia should be considered before any other treatment of in most cases of oral or dental disease processes. During this presentation we will discuss the drug options available and their effective use in oral and dental pain. Pre-emptive analgesia would be discussed in detail with a discussion of the benefits of the various drugs available to use prior to invasive dentistry and oral surgery procedures. Because of the late detection of many of these conditions the presence of chronic pain could be assumed in many of our patients and we will discuss the use of drugs like ketamine and gabapentin to address the situation effectively.

 Local and regional anaesthesia can effectively be used in the oral cavity to manage pain perception during oral and dental procedures and this again has significant benefits in the management of postoperative pain. We will discuss in detail the use of various drugs available, including:
• Alpha-2 agonists
• Opioids
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs NSAIDs)
• Steroids
• Ketamine
• Paracetamol and
• Gabapentin in the management of oral and dental pain
• References available upon request.