Painful traumatic neuromas in the oral cavity.

Traumatic neuromas in facial pain are characterized by a history of surgery at time of onset and by pain of an atypical neuralgic or nonneuralgic type with a stinging, burning, or paresthetic character. Pressure on the suspected area provokes pain, and localized analgesia relieves the pain. In six cases out of seven diagnosed clinically according to these criteria, excision biopsy revealed traumatic neuroma. One week postoperatively all patients were improved. One to 3 years later four patients out of six were still satisfactorily improved. In cases of painful oral traumatic neuromas where conservative measures have failed, a single excision then seems justified.