Answer:
In a case like this, where a female adolescent reports to have facial pain and frequent popping of her jaw, and after performing the necessary assessment it is found that in fact there is the presence of unilateral tender facial muscles and a deviation of the mandible, normally a nurse would decide to advice the patient to seek the help of an orthodontist. However, since the one doing the attention is a pediatric nurse practitioner, and not a regular clinical nurse, she might take a few steps first before sending the patient over to a specialist.
In the first place, she might ask the patient to use ice packs with regularity to help lower inflammation and pain. A second measure that she can take would be to recommend the patient take NSAIDs (medication for pain and inflammation) for a certain period of time, after which, if the situation doesn´t improve, then she would send the patient to the specialist. Finally, she could prescribe the patient a soft diet, so that the pressure placed on the muscles, and the oral cavity in general, decreases substantially. If all of these measures do not improve the situation, then the nurse practitioner should send the patient to the specialist.
