Some of the clinical features of trigeminal and other facial neuralgias suggest that these painful disorders may be associated with sensitization of central nervous system neurons. Laboratory evidence has shown that central sensitization can be produced and maintained by excitatory amino acids (e.g. glutamate) acting on neurons at NMDA and AMPA/kainate receptor sites. Given this information, and the need for more effective treatments of orofacial neuropathic pain syndromes, two possible candidates worthy of study are 1) dextromethorphan, an NMDA receptor antagonist and 2) topiramate, an anticonvulsant drug with AMPA/kainate receptor blocking activity. Thus, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of topiramate (TPM) or high-dose dextromethorphan (DM) versus placebo in the treatment of pain in patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) and other orofacial neuropathic pain syndromes. We propose two 6 month studies respectively evaluating dextromethorphan (60 patients; at least 20 with TN, 20 with definite trigeminal nerve pathology and 20 with likely trigeminal nerve pathology) and topiramate (40 patients; at least 20 with TN, 20 with definite trigeminal nerve pathology). These will be double-blind randomized crossover designs comparing high-dose dextromethorphan (DM) versus lorazepam (LOR) (as an active placebo) OR topiramate versus inactive placebo. The primary study outcome measure (in both parts) will be overall daily pain assessed by Gracely pain intensity descriptors. Other recorded data will include adverse drug effects, the frequency, severity and duration of pain paroxysms and a questionnaire focusing on daily function (modification of the Brief Pain Inventory).