Hey all,

My stupid mouth has been raging a tyranical war on me for months now. I don’t know if there is a way to keep this short and cover everything but here goes;

Age: Started at age 42 (now 43)
Sex: Female
Health: Great other than the mouth!
Diet: Good to excellent, (mostly Gluten Free because of celiac daughter)
One remaining wisdom tooth (bottom right)
Social Drinker, Smoker (3 packs a week at most)

History of Face Stupidity.

May, 2013 (unrelated to dental?)
*Blocked salivary gland right side – sudden massive pain and swelling.
*Walk-in physician referred me to ENT
*Minor surgery performed and was successful.

June, 2013
*Developed sensitivity in molar (top left, second from back.)
*General Dentist attempted to take it "out of bite" (froze me as it was that sensitive)
*Tooth was determined to be cracked and needed a crown

July, 2013
*GD attempted to prep tooth for crown (session terminated when I was still in pain after being frozen; said I needed a root canal.
*Three attempts made over the next three weeks (antibiotics administered) before it was successful. Temporary crown was placed.

** This was the first EVER procedure on teeth; no cavities or fillings prior to compare pain/healing to**

*Noted in days following procedure an awful taste in mouth, and extreme soreness. This continued for several days but I figured this was normal. It got worse instead of better.
*Approximately a week following the procedure, I took a photo with my phone and it showed a 1cm by 2cm white/green/black mass beside tooth that was worked on.
* I made two attempts to visit the dentist to ensure all was healing properly but did not end up connecting with him.
*Ended up going to a walk-in clinic where I was told that the tissue was completely necrotic. Went home and told my partner and he demanded that I visit the ER where the attending physician set me up with an appointment with an oral surgeon.

August, 2013
*Saw oral surgeon, said I had to wait for dead tissue to “slough off” before it could be properly assessed
*Eating, talking and general life was painful
*Tissue finally fell out (gross!!). Another phone picture revealed that tissue had rotted clear down to the bone. I had root and palate exposed.
*Oral Surgeon confirmed this as well as noted that there was already bone loss and may not have enough gum to even support the tooth. Also advised that we had to wait and see how my body would heal itself prior to looking at options
*Mouth started shooting bits of bone out of the roof of my mouth and gums

September, 2013
*Always in a certain amount of pain but the palate was generating new tissue to cover itself
*About half way through the month I woke up with a raging infection in my mouth, had an abscess on that tooth again.
*Went back to the general dentist that started all this and he was at a loss as to what to do so referred me back to the oral surgeon.

*Enter “Neuro-talk”, Bryanna’s posts, and all the informative posts out there in internet land! **

*Met with oral surgeon to discuss options which were to either lift gums up and try and scrape away infection (which wasn’t guaranteed to work) or extraction. Would have rather kept the tooth but because it was dead and harboring continuous infection I chose extraction.

October, 2013
*Tooth extracted, let the healing begin! Yay!

Or not…..sigh!

November, 2013
*About 3 or 4 weeks after extraction, I started getting jaw pain on the other side of my mouth, lower right mandible. Not really in one specific spot just general all over discomfort.
*Follow up post op with surgeon: He is happy with the healing but because of the bone loss the tooth next to it is unstable now. Options for reconstruction are limited because a bridge isn’t possible with that unstable tooth and there is too much bone loss for an implant without a bone graft. I talked to the surgeon about the jaw pain that was presenting but he told me that I needed to see a dentist.
Ahhhhhhhh!!

December, 2013
*Jaw pain has persisted on and off but tolerable with pain relievers.
* I woke up with a hard lump on my jawbone (not on gum line but actually presenting on the outside of jaw). It was painful but seemed to be limited to my jaw.
*Next day I presented with an extremely sore tooth; Lower right, second from last (where the remaining wisdom tooth is). It was cold sensitive and hurt to the touch. Good grief, now what!!
*My hunny hauls my sniffling butt into his dentist where x-rays are taken and everything looked fine. No infection present on x-rays but prescribed antibiotics just in case. About 12-18 hours later tooth completely stopped hurting. Jaw bump and pain still present.
*Went back to the ENT to make sure it wasn’t’ a problem with the salivary gland again, and it wasn’t’.
*Back to the dentist for a panoramic x-ray. Nothing showed on X-Ray. He put me on a tens machine thinking that I was having a facial spasm. Say whaaaaat?
*Did physio, acupuncture and more pain meds
*EVERYTHING CLOSED FOR XMAS*

January 2014
*Still have the visible lump on my jaw it doesn’t really hurt anymore (except for if it is bumped).
*Dentist wanted another look, tested tooth for vitality, repeated hot/cold test and thought it was alive. Still can’t figure out the lump. He referred to endodontist.
*Endodontist appointment revealed tooth had a vertical cracked. He said he could try a root canal but in his opinion he thought the tooth was unsalvageable. He thinks the bump on my jawbone is encapsulated infection. I asked him why said tooth hurt for less than 18 hours then quit (and still doesn’t hurt to this day…he said sometimes it can die quickly.

Questions
• How the heck does a tooth die off that quick? How does one practitioner say it is alive and another seems to think it is dead?
• It doesn’t hurt right now, what would happen if I just left it for a while? It isn’t a case of not having money (I have insurance) but I need a break!! I need to eat. I have dropped to 115 lbs. from all this face crap.
• If I go ahead with extraction, what do they do with my jaw? The bump of pus…..the thought of it makes me wretch LOL!

* The necrotic tissue, why? Epinephrine od? Pulp devitalizer spashed in my mouth? What could have caused it?

I know this is long winded but it has been going on for so long!! I would appreciate any input!