Presentation of dropout versus treatment groups of patients suffering idiopathic orofacial pain

A retrospective analysis of data collected from a group of 565 patients diagnosed as idiopathic orofacial pain patients at the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Eastman Dental Institute, London, United Kingdom. Thirty nine percent of the patients were regarded as dropout as they fail to attend more than the first visit and they were not recorded as discharged patients. The remaining 349 patients (61%) were regarded as the treatment group and followed after for a minimum of one year. The results of the study showed that the dropout patients did not differ significantly from the treatment group of patients at any sociodemographic, pre-referral pain or psychiatric indices, diagnostic groups, or their proposed management. However; patients attending the surgical and oral medicine clinics within the department dropped out significantly more frequently than those attending the psychiatric clinic (P<0.001).