Hi Meera,

TMJ pain can feel like nerve pain. I know because I have it. TMJ disorders are often misdiagnosed as neurological rather than joint. Because you stated that the OS did evaluate your TMJ and told you that you have clicking on the one side.... you may be one of these people who has some degree of chronic inflammation in the TMJ area (not uncommon) which could easily have been aggravated by the dental work that you have had done.

It is also common for the weird nerve like pain to occur weeks after the dental work is done. Why? Because as the site heals, the inflammation changes locations as it subsides in one area it inflames in another all of which is irritating to whatever bundle of nerves it is near or touching.

Anytime a root canaled tooth is extracted there is going to be some degree of post op nerve stimulation and irritation. Why? Because the chronic infection and inflammation associated with non vital teeth causes an ischemic reaction to occur in the area surrounding that tooth. This lack of blood supply contributes to inflammation of the surrounding nerves in the jaw bone. Because these nerves are intricately connected to widespread areas of other branches of nerves, the pain can be felt in the oddest of places that mistakenly seem to be unrelated to the original problem site. The pain can be severe, dull, intermittent, chronic, acute... permanent or temporary. All dentists are aware of this complication resulting from the ischemic reaction in the bone and it is one reason why they will often take a wait and see what happens approach. Because there is no way to know if it is permanent or not.

In your case, you may have had a previous TMJ issue (which could have originated from the rc that you had done on that upper molar) .... you also had additional traumatic dental work which was the second rc procedure/ozone injections and extraction of #5.... and now due to these missing teeth you are chewing and occluding (biting) differently. All of which is going to alter the alignment of your TMJ joint.

I would suggest that you see your biological general dentist for a complete evaluation of your TMJ. He may suggest a night guard to help relax and realign your occlusion which would take pressure off of the TMJ joint. Keep in mind that whatever you do to try and correct this problem will not correct itself over night. There are many contributing factors that created the problem and it takes time for everything to calm down and rejuvenate. He may also suggest other therapeutic modalities as well. Keep an open mind and ask him lots of questions about everything.

Hopefully the problem is TMJ related and not some form of neuralgia. It makes sense to have it properly evaluated by your bio dentist and begin with the least invasive, non medicated, treatments because to suppress the symptoms with meds when the problem may be physical, can only lead to further problems down the road. It is best to work with your bio dentist to see if the pain can be relieved or eliminated from a dental aspect first.

Bryanna