There has been substantial development in digital pain management with the introduction of computerised clinical decision support systems, diagnostic wearable devices, and deep neural networks of predictive algorithms for identifying pain sources. From the introduction of diagnostic biosensors to machine learning and augmented reality-based management of dental pain and anxiety, digitisation has introduced novel methods of managing some of the most complex pain-related syndromes.

Although enormous in potential, biomedical and computerised applications in dental pain management is still in its infancy. The integration of computers and computerised applications within the dental space requires overcoming substantial hurdles including patient acceptability of the technology, bugs within the system leading to undesirable results, financial and economic implications limiting mass adaptation of such technologies by the dental community, etc. Furthermore, dental pain develops from a wide variety of sources, ranging from the tolerable hypersensitivity and periodontal pain to the intolerable pulpal and trigeminal pain. Neoplasm, medicine, or therapy-induced pain also add to the need for versatility and thereby challenge accurate computerised diagnoses and relevant management.

This Special Issue will focus on showcasing clinically relevant original research (both in-vitro and in-vivo) and review articles that emphasise: digitised advancements of clinical pain research and management in dentistry; practical computerised methods which can be implemented within the dental practice; sensors and devices used for diagnostics in the head and neck region; digitised techniques in managing the pain after an accurate diagnosis; and patient-related considerations and financial aspects of computerised head and neck pain research. This Issue welcomes all specialties of dentistry, head-neck medicine, and bioengineering to submit articles that highlight the aforementioned methods to deal with dental and maxillofacial pain. This Issue should be of interest to medical and surgical specialties closely knit with the head & neck sciences along with researchers working on associated biomedical engineering applications.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Application of CAD/CAM in surgical and prosthetic pain management
• Use of sensors, biosensors and other nanotechnology to address oral and maxillofacial pain
• Computerised devices for dental pain management relevant to orthodontics, surgery, periodontics and prosthetic dentistry
• Deep learning and artificial intelligence-driven networks to aid pain diagnosis
• Computer navigated laser and adjunctive therapy in dentistry
• Computerised methods of addressing anxiety, stress, and pain in paediatric, adult, and geriatric dentistry
• Laser and/or nanobiofusion gel to reduce orthodontic induced pain management
• Public health concerns and economic constraints relevant to computerised dental pain management