Help!
Remember me? I swallowed liquid chloral hydrate and had a neuropathic (burning)reaction in my lips, gums, teeth, etc. Ended up in the hospital. So Severe. I get about 25 shots each week in my mouth, face, gums to help calm down the nerves. It is slowly improving. However, I cannot use any toothbrush as it irritates the gums and also cannot use any toothpaste wit with mint as it does the same. Gums,lips, teeth start burning. I try using a very diluted solution of baking soda to clean my teeth and use the sponge swabs. However, this is already a month of this and I know I am getting set up for major dental problems. Does anyone know of a toothpaste with anti cavity properties, etc. that does not contain mint or anything harsh to trigger off the burning pain. Forget sensodyne - doesn't do it. Arm and Hammer has mint in it too. Saw tea tree oil toothpaste. . Husband tried it first and said it was a bit strong - I shouldn't try it.
Help! I am a faithful teeth cleaning person. I see a perio every 3 months for cleaning. Have a lot of gum recession so nerves are pretty exposed.
Any products ideas?
Sydney

Hi Sydney,

My aunt absolutely hates mint, and for years she used plain baking soda as her toothpaste. A few years ago she found a toothpaste made by Tom's of Maine - I forget the actual flavor, but it was something fruity (strawberry or raspberry I think). My sister uses a toothpaste made by the Burt's Bees company and I think it is Lavender flavored. I tried it once it is was very soft - it didn't have any of the grittyness to it that many toothpastes have and the flavor seemed weird to me because I prefer mint flavored toothpaste, but it wasn't a bad flavor (just different to me).

I use Biotene toothpaste because I have dry-mouth (biotene is a dry mouth product) and it is very gentle and the flavor is very mild - but there is a hint of mint in the flavor, so that might be too harsh for your mouth.

Another idea would be to try a toothpaste (and even a toothbrush) that is for children. They tend to be more mild and gentle.

I hope that helps.

Take care,
Liz

Hi Sydney,
I have never heard of this particular reaction from liquid chloral hydrate. What are in the injections that you are getting weekly and are they being administered by a physician or dentist?

A suggestion would be to google <xylitol oral products>. Xylitol actually helps prevent tooth decay and can be very soothing and healing on the oral tissue. The powder comes unflavored and it can be used as an oral rinse and/or on a soft bristle toothbrush. The other products come in peppermint, spearmint, cinnamin and fruit flavors.

Another suggestion is to stay away from products that contain sodium laurel sulfate as this is actually a poison and it is found is most commercial toothpastes, shampoos and soaps.

Perhaps some immune boosting supplements would be helpful? Like buffered vitamin C, B complex, zinc, probiotics, and a multi vitamin that is meant to be taken twice a day. Pure aloe vera juice is excellent for healing oral tissue and also stimulates the immune system response.

Sending you lots of well wishes!
Bryanna

Thanks for your advice re: suggestions for dental care/mouth care. I appreciate your suggestions and will try them.
As for trying to find a toothpaste without mint - only one I found is Tom's (as per your suggestion). However, it still has that Sodium Laurel Sulfate ingredient. Bryanna - you mentioned that it is not good for you - [poison?) All toothpastes I resarched have that in them - as do the regular ones Colgate, etc. that I used to use. I am going to call the res Q dent number tomorrow to get more info on their ingredients. In the meantime I am using the Tom's apricot - no mint. Seems to be OK so far. Slowly trying to brush my teeth again with an ultra soft brush . Thanks to the injections the burning lips, etc. are improving. You asked who gives me the injections - a dentist who specializes in facial pain, mouth pain gives me the injections. He is phenomenal with knowing the facial nerves, etc. They are so painful - but have really helped.
I also want a toothpaste with no whitening ingred. They seem to have silica -the natural ones do. It seems that the new toothpastes have all these new ingredients in which are harsh on my sensitive teeth.
Thanks for all your help
Sydney

Hi Sydney,
Here are a couple of websites that may be useful to you:

http://www.dentist.net/sls-free-toothpaste.asp

http://www.remediesdirect.com/organic-toothpaste.html


This website explains <without any reason for bias> what SLS is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_laureth_sulfate


Is your dentist giving you injections of ozone in your mouth? Does he numb the area first before the injection?

Bryanna

Thanks so much for the websites. I found a category of toothapastes that are mint free on the first website/ That is what I was looking for. Also, want a toothpaste without a whitener as my enamel on my teeth is very thin and my teeth and gums are very sensitive. I just finished ordering biotene for dry mouth right before I read your response and found the internet resources. Well -I'll see how that is. The biotene toothbrush I ordered is great - very soft-best I've ever had.
Just brushed my teeth this morning - with swabs- and now I triggered off gum pain again. They had been feeling better for a week or so. Well - I get my injections soon so hopefully they will help. I am not sure what he puts in the injections. I am sure it is not ozone. It is a mixture of things - I think licocaine may be one of the items in the mixture. The injections are SO painful and he does not numb the area inside the mouth. before he injects. However, he does spray the facial areas with ethyl chloride spray before he injects. That helps a little - but it is still very painful -especially the deep facial injections. I dread going.
Thanks again Sydney

Sydney,
Having been a surgical chairside dental assistant for 30+ years, I have seen many, many injections given to patients, including ozone. With that said, it is SO imperative that you know what is being injected into your mouth because whatever it is will filter through your blood stream, major organs and renal collecting system. It has been my experience that some dentists are just so use to using lidocaine that they are not aware of the data stating the high toxicity rate and therefore they tend to misuse it sometimes. Here is a website that gives a brief synopsis of lidocaine use:
http://wiki.bmezine.com/index.php/Lidocaine_Toxicity

Ozone injections are more commonly used in dentistry than most people realize. In fact some dentists administer them <with good intentions of helping the patient>, but do not tell the patient that that's what they injected. In some states, oral ozone injections administered by a dentist are illegal. Oral Ozone injections are very painful and a topical gel is usually put on the site to be injected prior to the acutal injection. Sometimes a little bit of lidocaine or carbocaine local anesthetic is then injected to help minimize the pressure/pain from the injection of ozone. The post operative results of ozone injections can be beneficial or detrimental, depending on the condition being treated.

Another thing many people do not realize. All injectable material is chemically balanced and premeasured in a laboratory before being placed in a sealed glass carpule. The only way for a dentist to make up his own remedy would be either 1) He has a compounded pharmacist or specialized lab that creates a concoction for him or 2) He empties a glass carpule of anesthetic and somehow refills it with something else.

It may be wise to ask your dentist:
1) what is in the injection
2) is it something he makes up himself
3) what is the long term benefit of these injections
4) what are the short and long term risks of these injections

I offer you this information to hopefully make you a bit skeptical about further treatment until you know what is actually being used. I have seen countless, unnecessary complications occur in patients who have had dental treatment administered to them incorrectly.

Please let us know what you find out :-)

Bryanna

Thanks for websites on toothpastes, etc. I actually bought several then took them into my dentist for his advice.
Also, re: use of lidocaine in injections. Myself and thousands of patients have been administered this drug for anywhere from recently to 34 years. Also, the injections probably have bubificane epinephrine and dexamethosone. All of these are in very small doses. I have complete faith in my both dentists who have treated me for over 23 years as do all their other patients. I would trust them with my life. They know more about my FM and RSD than any MD I have ever met including the Mayo Clinic and J. Hopkins. We all are aware of the possible consequences of these meds. However, when you are in chronic agony and suffering and have lost all the joy in your life - you are more than happy to submit to anything that will help you. I'd certainly rather live a shorter pain free life than a miserable long term one. My dentists are well renowned and tops in their field. My burning mouth, gums, etc. caused by chloral hydrate are all improving thanks to weekly injections (and I don't care what is in them) Thanks for your help and concern .......Sydney

Sydney,
I understand what it is like to live with chronic pain. I know how miserable life can be when you dread living because of it. However, I also know from personal experience as well as professional, what can happen when someone submits themselves to treatment out of desperation and doesn't ask questions. A practitioner should always inform their patient of what the treatment is, what the short and long term goals are and what the adverse reactions could be. Not only will it give you some perspective on what to expect, but the information could be life altering to you in the case of an unexpected emergency situation. In an emergency, one of the first questions a medic or the ER asks is.... "What drugs are you taking?" Your dental treatments may or may not be contradictive to something that you'd be given in an emergency. But the only way to be safe would be to know what your dentist is injecting you with.

As a surgical assistant for the last 30 years, I have seen people who were injected with Lidocaine <and some other local anesthetics> go into hypotension (abnormally low BP), hypertension (elevated BP), seizures, abnormal heart arrythmias or lose consciousness. This can occur at any visit that a local anesthetic is given, not necessarily at the first one. There are a variety of factors that can cause this to happen and it can occur with even the slightest dosage.

Not all dental offices do this, but we place a pulse ox monitor on all patients receiving dental treatment from the minute they get in the chair until they get up to go home for the simple reason of being able to continually monitor their vital signs. Why is that important? One reason is because the gums are very vascular which means that they contain many blood vessels which are very close to the surface. These blood vessels serve as an expressway to all major organs including the heart. So any by-product of infection or anything that is injected into your gums travels through these vessels into your organs. Many people think that the anesthetic solution stays local to where the injection was given. The medication does not evaporate, it has to leave the body somehow and it does so through various organs.

Sydney, I understand that you feel desperate and you want to feel better! I think it's great that you have such confidence in your dentists and in all probability, they are trying to help you. But as part of the big picture, do you think it would be wise to know what they are injecting you with?

Please understand that I am not trying to interfere or deter you from continuing your dental treatments. I am furnishing you with this information with the absolute best of intentions.

Bryanna