Herpes zoster, an acute viral infection produced by the varicella zoster virus, may affect any of the trigeminal branches. This case report presents a patient with symptoms mimicking odontogenic pain. No obvious cause of the symptoms could be found based on clinical and radiographic examinations. After a dermatologist made a diagnosis of herpes zoster involving the third trigeminal branch, the patient was given antiviral therapy. Two months later, the facial lesions and pain had almost disappeared, and residual pigmented scars were present. During the diagnostic process, clinicians should keep in mind the possibility that orofacial pain might be related to herpes zoster.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  

• Herpes Zoster Accompanying Odontogenic Inflammation: A Case Report with Literature Review
  Soyeon Lee, Minsik Kim, Jong-Ki Huh, Jae-Young Kim
  Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain.2021; 46(1): 9.     CrossRef
• Recurrent Herpetic Stomatitis Mimicking Post-Root Resection Complication
  Sung-Ok Hong, Jae-Kwan Lee, Hoon-Sang Chang
  Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science.2013; 29(4): 418.     CrossRef
• Diagnostic challenges of nonodontogenic toothache
  Hyung-Ok Park, Jung-Hong Ha, Myoung-Uk Jin, Young-Kyung Kim, Sung-Kyo Kim
  Restorative Dentistry & Endodontics.2012; 37(3): 170.     CrossRef