Papers of the Week

Persistent idiopathic craniofacial pain (PIFP) is a heterogeneous group of pain syndromes whose main characteristic is the daily presence of persistent pain for at least 3 months. The pathophysiology of PIFP is still not entirely known and probably related to biological and psychological factors. Although PIFP has been attributed to the central neuron activity, the importance of masticatory muscles as a possible pathogenic mechanism was recently demonstrated. The main purpose of our paper was to identify the physiological rest position of the mandible with minimal tonus of both the elevator and depressor muscles and the neuromuscular trajectory of mouth closing obtained by transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TENS) and maintained with the use of an occlusal device, known as orthotic.