You do have the option to file a complaint with your state dental board.

Thank you Bryanna. The one that remains and is rc'd is in front of the now extracted missing tooth. I think the one that remains is 30 and the problematic tooth was 31. After the post, and the worsening pain, I went to the holistic dentist, who was not only not on my insurance, but is extraordinarily expensive. I was in very bad pain. I had been told by a well known dentist to rc the tooth, which I did. Still had very had pain. So, I went to the holistic dentist next. The holistic dentist X-rayed the tooth. He told me he saw a black dot and implied it could be an infection, but never uttered the words. It was a very odd conversation. I looked with all my might and could not see any dot. I made him point to it for a good twenty minutes. I was confused and a little perplexed at his mysterious behavior. But, I knew the rc didn't help matters and I had been reading up on rc teeth possibly being bad for people. I had no more hope at that point. He told me he wanted to extract the tooth and put in a graph. I agreed and then afterwards I got sick as a dog....and this led to other problems. He accused me of not putting I had lupus on the intake form, but it absolutely did put it on the form, which he admitted to later. BTW, his chair side assistant was acting weird...sort of angry. And my original dentist, had a chair side assistant who asked to be dismissed in the middle of my work.

Anyway, after the extraction and graph and getting sick, that was when I met the oral surgeon/MD who had to remove the graph. My pain slightly worsened (I didn't think it was possible) throughout this, BUT my fever and sick ness improved a bit when the graph was removed. The oral surgeon was livid. My autoimmune stuff went through the roof and I was now on Percocet near daily and trying to cope with all the horrible changes in my life. The OS did a biopsy and there was no infection. That was when he told me about nerve damage. I also went to my rheumatologist and the hospital and had an inordinate amount of blood drawn...many many vials looking for infection. None was found. However, I understand maybe an infection might be in a tooth!???? (You realize this is controversial) But, I was fine health wise and pain wise BEFORE any of these dentists treated me. Now, that is so NOT the case. I'm taking five NEW medications daily PLUS Percocet peridocially and this is permanent.
Ok, you have your opinions on this...but I'm left with sickness and pain regardless.

I agree with you that lawsuits are foremost on their mind.
On the follow up visit with the holistic dentist, this was pathetically obvious. I wa in great pain, feverish, lethargic and sickly. He asked me if my husband was an attorney or if I knew of any. I said "why?" He was a nervous wreck. The OS made it clear to me that all my care was horrible, but When I asked him if I should return to the holistic guy (only guy I mentioned by name) he screamed "NO!" I thank God for the OS, only person in the dental profession who was honest with me and helped me.

Thank you for not being offended and yes, it's important that those of us with neuro symtoms and/or damage be referred to neurologists.

Cleo, yes thank you!!!! I probably will do this. I guess I was hoping for some insight to this process?...something that would help me get past the injustices done to people and the unfairness in that process. It seems dentists really do cover for one another's grotesque mistakes, are very rarely held accountable for hurting people and likely repeat their mistakes over and over again.

Welcome Cleo.

Vowel Lady,
When trigeminal nerve injury occurs during dental work it usually is not about any other teeth in the mouth. It's the nerve. Neurologists do not deal with oral nerve injury. The neuro is limited to drugging your symptoms and that's about it. When people fail to report bad dental work that resulted in nerve damage.. the dentist stays in business like nothing ever happened. It is kind of like drugs that have been discontinued over the years. If people didn't complain, die, ect..the drug remains on the shelf. How long ago did the OS mention if you knew a lawyer? Most times people who have lawyers involved don't get jacked around the dental block!

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.

I have never had a root canal. I do agree nerve pain can arrive due to untreated infection/inflamation. But, when nerve pain arrives due to a foreign object being forced into the IAN or LN.. It's not about the condition of any other teeth. I live with LN damage. It feels like 4 teeth should have been extracted along time ago but the teeth are ok. My tongue is 50 times worse than the teeth pain! Dental malpractice cases do exist and expert lawyers are available. Dental boards are available for public complaints. I do agree that it is not always the fault of the dentist when complications occur and that's what consent forms are signed for.

Cleo,

I am sorry that you live with so much discomfort and pain. It has to horrible to always endure such suffering.

As I'm sure you know, dentists are taught to inject into certain nerves while avoiding other nerves. An injection into the Inferior Alveolar Nerve will most likely anesthetize the Lingual Nerve, etc. However, it is easy to "miss the mark" as not everyone's anatomy is the same.

In my career, I have seen countless dental patients who have ended up with a "direct hit" from the injection. The majority of them had no long term or permanent residual nerve problems. I have personally experienced this type of dental injection more than once and I did not experience post op or TN complications from it. My husband had a direct hit from a dental injection and a portion of his lower lip was numb for several weeks and then dissipated completely.

I also know of people who have suffered long term or permanent TN problems from dental injections. I also know many people who have great difficulty achieving profound anesthesia from dental injections. Or they become more numb, rather than less numb, several hours after the procedure.

I agree that some dentists are just sloppy or careless with their injections and their dentistry for that matter. But I really think the most typical reason people have different responses is because the location and angulation of the nerves are different for different people. The nerves reside and connect to each other in a similar pattern in all people but they are unique to each individual person.

I agree that a person does not have to have a particular tooth problem to end up with a Trigeminal nerve problem. But all too often a patients dental health when pertaining to non vital or infected teeth are repetitively misdiagnosed or undiagnosed which can undeniably cause or contribute to TN

Perhaps you have already seen this. I will post it for informational purposes for yourself and others who may find it interesting.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/82622-overview

Bryanna

Thank you for the concern. The magnitude of this type of pain is beyond descriptions of living in hell. Lucky for me is that I had the nerve dug out of the wreckage about 7 months post injury by an OS in 2002. I am in a way better place than I was 10 years ago! Here is a link to what my surgery was.
the site wont let me supply a link) it was an external neurolysis of the lingual nerve which can be found in pub med.

It would not have been in my best interest to choose a neurologist over an oral surgeon in my case! Nor was I ever sent to one by the OS.

I do agree and understand that bad teeth need to be dealt with before any conclusion of true classic TN can be made. I've read countless horror stories in the past few years of dental nerve damaged people undergoing brain surgery, gamma, ect.. trying to "fix" it!

Cleo,

Thank God you were led in the right direction and did not get drowned by a world wind of misdiagnosis and you have had some major relief from the surgery.

Was your nerve injury due to the extraction of an impacted lower 3rd molar? You may have said, but I don't recall.

It has been my experience that most of the TN dental patients that I have encountered have had impacted 3rd molars removed.

Bryanna

I was electrocuted with the impact of the injection. Yes it was third molar extracted but it was not impacted. It came out in one piece after further electrocution style torture. I never noticed third molar injury being most popular to end up with. I've seen it with every dental procedure on the market. fillings, implants, root canals, jaw joint replacements, ect..