I had 2 root canals a long time ago.BOTH gave me problems about a year later.Since i was so young{18},i was told...We need to consult with your parents about this..Before we take them out.I said hey,my parents don't feel my pain.TAKE THEM OUT!!!LOL
I would NEVER have another root canal done after that.
I tried to take good care of my teeth.
Guess i just didn't have a good start.
In other words.I certainly don't have them all anymore.But thankfully,i don't have pain anymore either!!!
All the best to your wife..and to anyone else here suffering with tooth pain.:hug:

Benefits of seeing a dentist in your insurance plan
 

Hi Paul,

Just some FYI.......... Thirty years I'm in dentistry....... I have never been able to justify leaving the practice of one dentist and going to a another dentist because they particiapted in insurance. Dentistry is expensive and sometimes it means taking out a loan or budgeting our money differently for awhile to get through some of it. It is also disheartening to have dental insurance and not be able to use it! But what are you really trading off??

Most patients switch because they feel it's less expensive. Can I tell you the truth?? It may look that way in the numbers, but in the long run, it can actually end up costing you more. You will only get what you pay for. Keep in mind, I am the one who works on the other side of the patient, so I know what goes on.......... no one wants to work for less money, no one will give you quality care for less money, and no one will seek additional education if they are only going to practice insurance guided care.

There are reasons why a dentist chooses not to participate in HMO type dental plans offered today and it's not because they will earn more money if they don't participate. It's because they don't want the dental treatment to be governed by the insurance policy because they know the limitations of the insurance and they know the lack of patient compliance if the suggested treatment is not paid by the patients insurance.

I share this information with you and others to help you become as equally informed as those of us who are in the profession. I know how expensive dental care can be but I also know why it is so expensive. A good dentist is a well trained tooth carpenter and an artist. Working on teeth is incredibly tedious and every aspect of the work has to be done precisely. The overhead in running this type of business is huge! The state of the art practices which are usually the most educated hire experienced/credentialed staff; use outstanding dental labs to fabricate their crowns, bridges, etc; perform all of the necessary steps to provide proper sterilization and never cut corners; purchase quality hi tech equipment to help get the job done faster and easier for the patient; and they often times have extra niceties for the patients comfort. That's just a glimpse into the subject.

We see and talk to numerous patients every day who thought they were getting their monies worth by seeing an insurance dentist. I wish I could tell you that these patients were taken care of properly, but most of the time, they weren't. To me, it is incredilby disheartening and something really needs to be done to change it!

So Paul go with your gut instinct and if you feel you are getting the run around and all your wife is getting are prescription meds, please search for an answer elsewhere. The longer this condition goes on, the harder it is to remedy it.

Please continue to keep us updated!

Bryanna

Bryanna I understand what you are saying. My wife and I went to her neurologist appointment today, she is suspected of having some sort of neuralgia.

After hearing her describe what is going on to the neurologist I also wonder if the pain is caused by a tooth problem.

She is going to have a MRI of her head and a follow up visit to discuss the results.

A dentist, an endo and now a neuro don`t seem to think it is a tooth related issue.

A dental problem sounds better than Trigeminal Neuralgia though.

Not surprised about the difficulty in the dx
 

Hi Paul,

Your wife probably does have some form of neuralgia. But where is it coming from? What is the origin of it?

If I had a penny every time I heard a patient say....... my <conventional> dentist, my endodontist, my ENT dr and the neurologist don't think my facial pain is tooth or dental related..... I would be a millionaire!

Of course I can't say her neuralgia is absolutely caused by an infection, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was. There are so many things that could cause neuralgia and it could be a combination of things going on. But there still has to be an <origin> to have started the whole thing. Right?

Here is a website with some good info about various causes of facial pain:
http://www.drshankland.com/root_canal.html

How is your wife feeling at this point? Is she on medication?

Bryanna




>

Hi Bryanna, better at this point but still some issues, the pain isn`t localized, and even a cool breeze can trigger it. Not a constant pain like before and to varying degrees and locations, but confined to the left side of her face.

She will get her MRI and depending on what is said or found will probably return to our original dentist for a second opinion on if it is a dental issue. No history of neurological issues in her family, but that means jack? None in mine either and I wound up with MS.

To many medications in to short of a time frame to decide what help the pain, antibiotics, steroids, pain pills. Tough to make a call and say which one helped.

Steroids and antibiotics are done now (today) so we are monitoring the situation for changes.

Thanks, Paul.

Well, I'm still plodding along here with 2 capped teeth that have to come out. The decay is up under the gumline eating away at the roots. Parts of them have been drillled out and filled but he couldn't get at it all since it was too far up there so he told me over 2 years ago this was going to be the end result. They will be coming out next week some time. I have had to scramble to come up with the cash to do this from many sources. My Crap Ins. doesn't cover extractions, only at certain oral surgeons or dentists either too far away or with a 2 month wait and I can't or don't want either. Waiting on capped teeth to be extracted is torture. You get SICK and you have excruciating pain in the meantime.

BUT I wanted to say this. That sometimes I too have had what felt like a toothache where there was NO TOOTH. It is a nerve thing originating in the jaw, I believe. Sometimes aggravated by something we are doing. Holding your head in a strained postition for extended periods. Or some kind of physical work you do on occassion and sometimes just stress, clenching your jaw if you are ****** off or worried about something for too long. I find that a long, hot shower hitting right on the jaw and relaxing it by dropping open your mouth, doing neck rolls to pop your verterae back where they should be, helps alot too. { I'm doing some right now as I type ;) } Gentle massage of the sides of your face and neck AND Naps. Yea, sometimes just taking a nap helps relax everything.

See I want you to see the path the nerve takes from the cervical spine to the the face. Especially from the base of your neck where tension concentrates. You can see how IF there is a problem back there it can radiate to the face and FEEL like a toothache. I have had this happen frequently and Thank GOD for the internet so I can SEE and understand what's going on. I hope this helps you. It helped me to understand so I can stop doing what I am doing to cause this. Sometimes though it takes a while for things to settle down. Nerves are funny little things that once get excitied take time to relax. Moist heat, stretches, massage and relaxation DO help me.

NOW if off for a nice, Long hot shower to relax my neck. :D ;) :hug:

WIIX - I totally agree with you. I have peripheral neuropathy which I believe may have been initiated by the root canals I had years ago. Anyone reading this thread this far should bone up on PN. Look at that "picture" of WIIX! PN literally plays havoc with your electrical system (nerves) and causes false messages to be sent anywhere in your body.

The intense pain where there is no tooth - and I had this one for years - is a false message sent from the central nervous system (the brain) out to the peripheral nervous system (everywhere else in the body). To me, it's like a messed up electrical system with sparks flying here and there all the time.

Some parts of my body are numb and feel no pain. You have to be careful of these because you can't feel a cut, stab, burn, etc. Your peripheral nerves are carrying back a false message of 'no pain' to the brain. You can really do damage if you don't constantly check these things when you have PN.

Good luck in solving your very real problems!

Jon

Thanks jon for confirming what I said. I was hoping Sleeper would have seen it by now but maybe he just hasn't been in here yet.

I USED to have PN, but it was caused by drinking too much alcohol. I haven't had any now in over 15 years and everything is back to normal now. I do get a twinge once in a while under my big toe nails but warming up my feet and gentle massage with a nice lotion always makes it go away.

I too have an occassional WIERD kind of thing happen. I will get TWO very separate sharp nerve twinges in different parts of my body at the exact same time. I think it's nerve thing again. Just lasts for a second or two but it's sort of funny. One might be in my shoulder and the other in my foot OR one might be on my back and the other in my leg. No obvious association with the two but just wierd. I am wondering if anyone else ever gets these strange little occurances too.

WiiX - Those twinges are what I think of as the sparks flying in your body's electrical system. It's a symptom of PN. Sometimes it's a few pins sticking in you a little shockingly! Other times it's a big hot knife stabbing one or more places. Doesn't last long, but it certainly gets your attention when it happens, doesn't it?

The PN section probably has answers to your questions. I just haven't gotten there yet. My teeth are demanding my attention right now.

Jon