Cleo,

TN can involve several teeth and for reasons that contribute to chronic infection and/or inflammation caused by gum disease/non vital or root canaled teeth/bruxism/clenching/ill fitting restorations or dentures/misaligned or collapsed bite/tmj disorders/orthodontia done too aggressively/aggressive dental surgery, etc. The branches of nerves stemming off of the trigeminal nerve are widespread and intricately connected to all of our teeth.

Trigeminal nerve injury caused by dental treatment can also involve more than one tooth. It is not uncommon to have unhealthy teeth adjacent to each other. One could be unknowingly unhealthy and the other could be root canaled and unhealthy... both of which would be very irritating to the T nerves. You could also have unhealthy teeth in different areas of your mouth contributing to TN as they do not have to be next door to each other for the T nerves to become irritated and inflamed.

I agree that neurologists are very limited about oral nerve injury. I have never known one to be knowledgeable about what the root canal procedure is or how it affects the health of the tooth and Trigeminal nerves. Yes, they prescribe lots of different meds to subside the symptoms and to stop the patient from complaining. But this is what many TN patients feel they are forced into doing because the pain is so bad, they don't know where to turn for help and more times than not the real cause the problem continues to be improperly or misdiagnosed.

Unless there is definitive proof of negligence against a dentist, then it is very unlikely that someone would win their case against them. Most lawyers will not even consider taking it on because there are too many variables and possibilities to consider when it comes to teeth. Very often a patient does not have obvious symptoms in the early stages of having a problem as there are no positive radio graphic findings with that tooth either. However, drill into that tooth to prepare it for a crown and it can be like setting off a firecracker or the tooth can slowly become symptomatic. Either way, there was no evidence prior to drilling into that tooth that a problem would occur. The patient feels like... hey, I had no pain when I came here and now I do. What happened? It could be due to what I just described and/or it could be due to dental negligence. But unless the dentist is without question found to be negligent, there is no case against them.

I have closely witnessed and even partaken in a lot of harmful, toxic and improper dentistry during the first 20+ years of my career as an assistant. Little did I know during that time the harm I was causing when I condoned and assisted on root canal therapy. The repetitive problems that patients endured from their poor oral health and toxic dental procedures became impossible for me to ignore. I have been on a mission for the last 20 years to stop condoning and partaking in the nonsense and I openly use my knowledge to inform patients and others (here and elsewhere) about the risks of certain dental procedures and the choices they have. The biggest problem with dentistry is that there is no non partial governing body that oversees what goes on in dental offices both clinically and administratively. No one.

My point in all of this is to say.... dentistry is never a cut and dry operation. There are so many facts about teeth and dental procedures that the majority of the public are unaware of which often results in someone making assumptions or conclusions that may or may not be totally applicable to what really occurred.