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-   -   Understanding what a diagnosis of TN really means. (https://www.neurotalk.org/dentistry-and-dental-issues/212318-understanding-diagnosis-tn-means.html)

pained 11-17-2014 04:05 PM

Understanding what a diagnosis of TN really means.
 
Because there seems to be much confusion on other posting sites....

If you go to the dentist and walk out in pain, you do not have Type 1, Type 2, or ATN. You have neuralgia on the trigeminal nerve which is an injury, not the disease/disorder. Treating dental nerve injuries with treatments that are intended to be for the disorder/disease such as, MVD, Gamma Knife, Freezing, Cutting, Botox, will only make it worse. It may get better for a period of time but the pain will return with a vengeance.

People, including doctors, throw out that TN diagnosis like it is a one type fits all. It isn't. I'm not sure that many doctors even know the difference. They are VERY different. Unfortunately, most dental nerve injuries are not treatable with anything other than medications unless you are able to intervene immediately after it happens.

Please just be aware of the difference and proceed with caution. Understand your injury and what your doctor is recommending.

An injury to a nerve in the jaw does not cause a blood vessel to press on a nerve way up stream towards the brain.

Vowel Lady 11-20-2014 02:23 PM

Ok, I get it. Some :mad:dentists worked on my mouth and left me with a very bad, likely permanent injury to the Trigeminal Nerve. My neuro told me immediately, after listening to the loooong horrible nightmare of a story starting with the first horrific BOZO dentist and ending with the last, that surgery would NEVER be an option for me. He tends to call it "atypical TN," and sometimes "nerve injury." I'm ok with these terms since I feel my pain and injury are basically "atypical" since I don't have compression in a nerve in my brain. I believe they need a category for "sadistic, Unintelligent, uncaring, greedy dentists drilling or doing some other stupid thing to the TN." SUUGDDDSOSTTTTN....that's me! I'm on a LOT of expensive meds and have good days and bad. It is very difficult and I try hard to keep my sense of humor.
It is weird how doctors will sometimes (maybe more often than we realize) agree to do procedures with little to no need or hope of success. My doc made my situation perfectly clear...what happened to me and what my limits are.

Bryanna 11-20-2014 04:47 PM

Hi Vowel Lady,

Do you still have that root canaled tooth or did you have it extracted?

I remember you said you purchased it, but did you get the opportunity to read the book by Dr Robert Kulacz and Dr Tom Levy... The Roots of Disease, Connecting Dentistry to Medicine?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vowel Lady (Post 1108881)
Ok, I get it. Some :mad:dentists worked on my mouth and left me with a very bad, likely permanent injury to the Trigeminal Nerve. My neuro told me immediately, after listening to the loooong horrible nightmare of a story starting with the first horrific BOZO dentist and ending with the last, that surgery would NEVER be an option for me. He tends to call it "atypical TN," and sometimes "nerve injury." I'm ok with these terms since I feel my pain and injury are basically "atypical" since I don't have compression in a nerve in my brain. I believe they need a category for "sadistic, Unintelligent, uncaring, greedy dentists drilling or doing some other stupid thing to the TN." SUUGDDDSOSTTTTN....that's me! I'm on a LOT of expensive meds and have good days and bad. It is very difficult and I try hard to keep my sense of humor.
It is weird how doctors will sometimes (maybe more often than we realize) agree to do procedures with little to no need or hope of success. My doc made my situation perfectly clear...what happened to me and what my limits are.


Bryanna 11-20-2014 05:28 PM

Pained,

I assume the copy of that radio graph of a tooth is your tooth? I have not be on here for several days and have not yet read any other posts by you.

I know for a fact that unexpected or unintended issues, unbeknown to the patient and sometimes even the dentist, can and do occur during dental treatment. Unless the issue is blatant at the time of occurrence or it proceeds to become symptomatic, most of the time the "issue" goes unnoticed or unmentioned. Something can occur that is injurious to the patient that does not affect the trigeminal nerve but rather a different area of the mouth or possibly the sinus area which can cause symptoms of atypical facial pain. Sometimes the injury is permanent and other times it's not.

I agree that treating the symptoms is not usually a solution to the problem. For instance, treating facial pain that presents itself as a neuralgia type pain when the pain is more than likely associated with an infected and/or root canaled tooth... or a cavitation in the jaw bone where infectious bacteria has migrated to from either a present or previously removed infected or dead tooth... is certainly not the solution. I agree that the longer the "issue" is present, the less likely for a permanent solution.

The problem that occurs with many people who are misdiagnosed and therefore mistreated for ATN or other similar problems supposedly not related to their "existing" dental problems, will most likely never find relief. The systemic concerns associated with infected teeth and dead teeth are numerous and because these people are repeatedly misdiagnosed, the problem becomes widespread. Again, the longer the issue is present, the less likely for a permanent solution.

Also an injury to the trigeminal nerve in the jaw, whether it be due to infection or trauma, can absolutely create problems in other areas of the face, and head, including the brain. There is an intricate connection of nerves, ligaments, muscles, blood vessels.... that communicate from the TN to other areas of the face, neck, head.... etc. One communication to one area, sets off communication to yet another area, and so on. Along with that, inflammation and infectious bacteria really have no boundaries.

I'm curious if that xray is of your tooth, do you still have this lower molar or was it extracted?

Bryanna





Quote:

Originally Posted by pained (Post 1108362)
Because there seems to be much confusion on other posting sites....

If you go to the dentist and walk out in pain, you do not have Type 1, Type 2, or ATN. You have neuralgia on the trigeminal nerve which is an injury, not the disease/disorder. Treating dental nerve injuries with treatments that are intended to be for the disorder/disease such as, MVD, Gamma Knife, Freezing, Cutting, Botox, will only make it worse. It may get better for a period of time but the pain will return with a vengeance.

People, including doctors, throw out that TN diagnosis like it is a one type fits all. It isn't. I'm not sure that many doctors even know the difference. They are VERY different. Unfortunately, most dental nerve injuries are not treatable with anything other than medications unless you are able to intervene immediately after it happens.

Please just be aware of the difference and proceed with caution. Understand your injury and what your doctor is recommending.

An injury to a nerve in the jaw does not cause a blood vessel to press on a nerve way up stream towards the brain.


Vowel Lady 11-21-2014 02:27 PM

I read most of one book and perused the other. I've been either busy or in pain, so reading time has been limited, Bryanna. I still am conflicted, but open minded about the very real possibility of root canals being unhealthy for people. Ipstill have a rc tooth in number 30. I would be more suspicious of that rc IF so many peculiar things had not happened during my dental procedures. Many, if not most, people in my predicament have pain going To the dentist. I had no pain. I wanted a crown put on a cracked tooth. I had permanent pain leaving the dentist and none going in.

1. My young, inexperienced dentist took months to attempt to put on a crown causing soreness in the area. Lots of scratches in my mouth.
2. Inexperienced dentist put on crown that didn't fit using permanent cement.
3. Crown broke before I left the chair. Broke first time I bit down.
4. Inexperienced dentist took over an hour drilling trying to remove broken crown put on with permanent cement. Began having some more discomfort.
5. Owner dentist took over.
6. Owner dentist put in post in sore, cracked tooth. Said that was the only way she could do a crown. Used lots of novocaine.
7. Had some pain when novocaine wore off.
8. When Owner dentist removed temporary crown I almost fainted from severe, heavy duty, over the top, electrical pain.
9. Owner dentist alluded to me that perhaps I now needed a rc in that tooth and immediately went on a three week vacation.

I believe and so does my oral surgeon and my two neuros and a pain management guy I went to, that these dentists somehow damaged the Trigeminal nerve.

I went to other dentists for help, and it only got weirder.

I do not deny that having an rc tooth next to the tooth in question might play some very minor roll. Same with having an autoimmune illness. But again, I had NO pain at all, nothing, until these weird things happened with the dentists. I fully believe I would have NO pain today had these two dentists (cough) had not of done such horrible work on my mouth.

Eventually, I will finish the book. I know in my heart there is something to what you are saying with your posts. And I think it is a blessing that you help people here.

I pressed my new dentist re: root canals looking deep into his eyes. :D He kept on saying they were fine. Then he said " besides, we just can't pull out people's teeth left and right." I'm paraphrasing...but you get the idea. I think this is part of the problem. There aren't great alternatives, really. And for someone like myself with lupus and SS, implants are unlikely.

Would number 30 be visible if it were removed and I smiled? Between nerve damage and autoimmune stuff...Working in that area is a problem.

I wish there were some middle road where people did root canals rarely and implants more often. Perhaps some criteria set by those who understand these things fully and honestly. And / or more alternatives. And I really wish dentists were more honest, forthcoming, professional...etc.

Bryanna 11-21-2014 03:05 PM

Hi Vowel Lady,

"Pained" posted an informative thread, not sure if you have seen it so I am re posting it for you here. Please read the extensive information on the second link.

Here's her thread under useful websites:

Never let a dentist use formaldehyde on you or your toddler during a root canal. Ask if they are. Don't ask what they are using. You have to specifically ask if there is any formaldehyde being used. If the answer is yes, or they waffle, it is time to RUN. Don't be swayed by their defending of it.

Don't fall into the trap of believing things that are said by the American Endodontic Society. They are not a recognized group by the dental community and frequently tout untruths or unsubstantiated information in their quest to push a product that has been denied approval by the FDA, is not supported by the ADA, taught NOT to be used in every single accredited dental school and 99.9% of the dental community is adamantly against.

T1. his link is to the position statement published by the Am Dental Associations ONLY recognized root canal group.
http://www.aae.org/uploadedfiles/aae...gmaterials.pdf

2. Watch the NBC video at this website -

http://www.worstrootcanalever.com

Vowel Lady 11-21-2014 03:25 PM

Was it the video on Sargenti paste...the woman who had severe jaw injury after a rc using the paste? Gawd awful. So sad! :mad:

Bryanna 11-22-2014 10:55 AM

Vowel Lady,

What happened to this woman is probably more common than realized because it is common for this to be misdiagnosed over and over again. Only for the person to later be diagnosed with the "complications" rather than the cause. So in the persons record, the true culprit is never acknowledged.

On the video page, did you read down that page under "What Happened To Us"? It goes on to say how treating the problem earlier with removal of the tooth may have prevented the permanent damage that she has suffered. And because the surgery to remove the tooth was delayed, it was then not possible to clear out the contaminated bone completely. Again, she was misdiagnosed by her dentists and physician over and over again.

This information focused on the use of sargenti paste as a disinfectant during the root canal procedure. Which by the way is all that was used up until about 10 or so years ago. To this day, it is still being used, even in places where it is no longer legal to use it. And as we all have discovered here, dentists are not that open to informing their patients about ... too much of anything.

One huge fact that all of this information deliberately neglects to inform the public about is that ALL root canaled teeth irrelevant of whether sargenti was used or not, are chronically infected with gangrenous bacteria. So what happened to this woman, can and does happen to others who have root canaled teeth where that bacteria takes hold of the jaw bone. It should be noted that the evidence of jaw bone infection is typically not picked up on a dental radio graph until it is moderate to severe. Often the only symptoms are vague and may not even be in the exact area of the tooth.

In the cases similar to this woman's, the patient is usually told by their dentist and physician .... "I have never seen this before (BS!).... Your body rejected the root canal.... The root canal was not done properly.... The filling material was short of the apex." The patient doesn't know any better and they want to believe that their dentist/physician is being truthful with them. Rarely if ever is the patient properly informed simply because physicians are uninformed and dentists and their staff are educated to "retain" teeth no matter what. Strongly included in that "dental" education is the money aspect of performing endodontic therapy and no one wants to give that up. Unfortunately, this is the hard truth about the dental profession as I have witnessed it thousands+++ times over the last 3 decades and it's not getting any better among the conventional dental profession.

Bryanna




Quote:

Originally Posted by Vowel Lady (Post 1109096)
Was it the video on Sargenti paste...the woman who had severe jaw injury after a rc using the paste? Gawd awful. So sad! :mad:


Vowel Lady 11-29-2014 04:18 PM

I have heard many times the following expression coming out of the mouth's of their dentists relayed to me by people suffering from various horrible dental and /or nerve injuries : "I have never seen anything like this before!" I'm beginning to believe dentists are given a seminar and told that when "it" hits the fan to tell the patient this line so the patient thinks the Dr. Did everything correctly and they are just a one in a ten million freak situation.

Although I might be wasting my breath, I'm going to ask AGAIN for my new dentist to look at my rc tooth next to the removed 31 and I'm going to try to get him to speak with me privately about rc teeth.

It's in front of 31. I forgot...is this 30 ? It still looks like hexx. It was evaluated by a dentist and that alone left me with three weeks of serious extra pain. Honestly, I don't think this tooth is the cause of my nerve problem. However, I'm not in love with having it around. *****important Would the removal of this tooth likely cause a noticeable gap in my smile?

Bryana, what is NICO? Is this the same as a cavitation?

Thank you.

Bryanna 11-30-2014 11:46 AM

Hi Vowel Lady,

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard a dentist say those words to a patients.... I would be a millionaire! The irony of what you said about dentists being trained to avoid confrontation or admittance to wrong doing..... is not all that far from reality. In general the dental profession has always been and continues to be deliberately evasive about informing their patients about lots of issues and their staff is expected to be the same way. I have learned to work only for those who appreciate the value of having their patients well informed. But that's a whole other story.......

If your new dentist is conventional minded, he will tell you root canaled teeth are fine and not to be concerned. Remember... that is what he is trained to do. If you see a biological dentist he may be more inclined to open up about the topic of root canals. However, all dentists need to be careful of how they approach this subject because to speak out differently than you are expected to, can get you into a lot of hot water and with no one to back you up.

Here are some questions you can present to your dentist:

1) How can it be healthy to keep a non vital tooth in my mouth when it wouldn't be healthy to keep a dead organ in my body?
2) Doesn't the tooth need vitality to not become infected?
3) I have read in several places that there are hundreds of microscopic canals in every tooth that contain nerve tissue. What happens to those nerves when the tooth is root canaled if that tissue cannot be removed?
4) If that nerve tissue just dies off, then wouldn't it cause inflammation and infection?
5) If the tooth is not alive and it contains dead nerve tissue, doesn't that create a unfavorable bacteria that can spread to the bone since the bone is alive? If so, then what happens to the bone? Is it replaceable?
6) Does a root canal actually "cure" the infection in the tooth? Or does the rc just subside the bacteria for a uncertain amount of time allowing the person to "retain" the tooth for that length of time?
7) Can an infected tooth, like a root canaled tooth, eventually have a negative affect with the immune system and be a contributing factor to a systemic illness?
8) Can the bacteria from an infected tooth migrate to the sinuses or the brain?

Those are a few of the questions you can present to your dentist.

Yes, the tooth in front of 31 is #30. It would leave you with a large opening if both teeth were missing. Having that large open area could cause the upper teeth on that side to move downward as they would have nothing to occlude against to prevent them from moving. So it would not be ideal to leave that large opening.. open.

NICO is a type of cavitation. There are various degrees of cavitations that can occur in the bone. There are also a variety of bacterias that are associated with them as well.

Bryanna





Quote:

Originally Posted by Vowel Lady (Post 1110400)
I have heard many times the following expression coming out of the mouth's of their dentists relayed to me by people suffering from various horrible dental and /or nerve injuries : "I have never seen anything like this before!" I'm beginning to believe dentists are given a seminar and told that when "it" hits the fan to tell the patient this line so the patient thinks the Dr. Did everything correctly and they are just a one in a ten million freak situation.

Although I might be wasting my breath, I'm going to ask AGAIN for my new dentist to look at my rc tooth next to the removed 31 and I'm going to try to get him to speak with me privately about rc teeth.

It's in front of 31. I forgot...is this 30 ? It still looks like hexx. It was evaluated by a dentist and that alone left me with three weeks of serious extra pain. Honestly, I don't think this tooth is the cause of my nerve problem. However, I'm not in love with having it around. *****important Would the removal of this tooth likely cause a noticeable gap in my smile?

Bryana, what is NICO? Is this the same as a cavitation?

Thank you.


justjane37 11-30-2014 01:34 PM

There is a lot of confusion out there regarding the difference between Trigeminal Neuralgia and dental nerve injury.

The flip side of the coin though is that if you have neuropathic pain in your teeth without any physical evidence of a problem with your teeth you should look into TN. So many of us with TN start off in the dental chair having unnecessary and damaging procedures done when there was nothing wrong with our teeth in the first place.

It can be a difficult process to navigate--did the pain come before the dental procedure or the procedure before the pain?


Quote:

Originally Posted by pained (Post 1108362)
Because there seems to be much confusion on other posting sites....

If you go to the dentist and walk out in pain, you do not have Type 1, Type 2, or ATN. You have neuralgia on the trigeminal nerve which is an injury, not the disease/disorder. Treating dental nerve injuries with treatments that are intended to be for the disorder/disease such as, MVD, Gamma Knife, Freezing, Cutting, Botox, will only make it worse. It may get better for a period of time but the pain will return with a vengeance.

People, including doctors, throw out that TN diagnosis like it is a one type fits all. It isn't. I'm not sure that many doctors even know the difference. They are VERY different. Unfortunately, most dental nerve injuries are not treatable with anything other than medications unless you are able to intervene immediately after it happens.

Please just be aware of the difference and proceed with caution. Understand your injury and what your doctor is recommending.

An injury to a nerve in the jaw does not cause a blood vessel to press on a nerve way up stream towards the brain.


Bryanna 11-30-2014 04:44 PM

Justjane,

Dental problems are not that cut and dry. When the nerves are dying in a tooth for whatever the reason, there are either no obvious symptoms, vague sporadic symptoms or full blown radio graphic pathology. Generally, an infected tooth does not show radio graphic pathology until the infection has spread beyond the tooth and into the jaw bone. But if the nerves are dying slowly say to decay that has not been clinically seen or diagnosed, then as those nerves die the bacteria and inflammation are most likely not going to be limited to just that tooth. So this when various nerves can become irritated and again, maybe there will be symptoms of that, or maybe there won't.

Also, depending on the angle at which a dental film is taken the pathology may or may not be present or it may or may not show the extent of the problem. Dental xrays are only 2 dimensional and even with the exact angulation it will still only be a 2 dimensional view unless the technician took it at a bi-secting angle. Which is not usually done because it can then be distorting for other anatomical reasons.

So it is not so cut and dry as you say.... did the pain start before the dental treatment or afterwards. I wish it were that simple.

Bryanna


Quote:

Originally Posted by justjane37 (Post 1110511)
There is a lot of confusion out there regarding the difference between Trigeminal Neuralgia and dental nerve injury.

The flip side of the coin though is that if you have neuropathic pain in your teeth without any physical evidence of a problem with your teeth you should look into TN. So many of us with TN start off in the dental chair having unnecessary and damaging procedures done when there was nothing wrong with our teeth in the first place.

It can be a difficult process to navigate--did the pain come before the dental procedure or the procedure before the pain?


justjane37 11-30-2014 09:29 PM

And Trigeminal Neuralgia is not cut and dry either. I understand what you are saying Bryanna.

No problems involving nerves are ever simple. I would say especially in our faces. There is a huge gap in education between dentists and doctors regarding this. Many people are left suffering because of this, whether it is dental or something else. But Trigeminal Neuralgia does have a place in this conversation, and in other conversations involving nerves of the face.

And, with Trigeminal Neuralgia, pain often starts in the teeth, jaw, cheek, ear or nose and is often mistaken for dental problems.

I am a person with Trigeminal Neuralgia that had unnecessary dental work, was tossed around from doctor to dentist to doctor. If there was more knowledge and awareness of this terrible disease then we would be saved a lot of time, money, pain, anxiety and isolation.





Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryanna (Post 1110536)
Justjane,

Dental problems are not that cut and dry. When the nerves are dying in a tooth for whatever the reason, there are either no obvious symptoms, vague sporadic symptoms or full blown radio graphic pathology. Generally, an infected tooth does not show radio graphic pathology until the infection has spread beyond the tooth and into the jaw bone. But if the nerves are dying slowly say to decay that has not been clinically seen or diagnosed, then as those nerves die the bacteria and inflammation are most likely not going to be limited to just that tooth. So this when various nerves can become irritated and again, maybe there will be symptoms of that, or maybe there won't.

Also, depending on the angle at which a dental film is taken the pathology may or may not be present or it may or may not show the extent of the problem. Dental xrays are only 2 dimensional and even with the exact angulation it will still only be a 2 dimensional view unless the technician took it at a bi-secting angle. Which is not usually done because it can then be distorting for other anatomical reasons.

So it is not so cut and dry as you say.... did the pain start before the dental treatment or afterwards. I wish it were that simple.

Bryanna


Bryanna 12-01-2014 08:20 AM

justjane,

I agree TN is complicated and all too often people are misdiagnosed, mistreated and severely misinformed. I also know first hand about the huge gap between physicians and dentists not just on this topic but on most areas that connect medicine and dentistry. That is a huge problem and always has been. Dentists do not consider themselves doctors in the same sense as a physician considers himself a doctor. Dentists consider themselves a doctor of dental science which has very little to do with any area of the body other than the mouth and more specifically the teeth. Dentists refer to each other as tooth carpenters because they focus on the technical aspect of dental care more so than the physical health aspect. Physicians rarely if ever get involved in anything dental related in spite of the intricate relationship between oral and systemic health because their education falls very short of oral health. Unfortunately, physicians depend on the dentist to figure out the problem but then the dentist is most likely not thinking past the teeth and he's been taught to go to great measures to retain teeth, even those that are diseased. It's a vicious cycle and who loses every time, the patient.

I am just as frustrated about all this as you are. I feel awful about your situation and it is tough seeing patients go through this time and time again. I agree there needs to be more knowledge and more recognition about TN amongst dentists and physicians. It needs to be incorporated into their education as that is the only way to bring more awareness to it.

Bryanna




Quote:

Originally Posted by justjane37 (Post 1110570)
And Trigeminal Neuralgia is not cut and dry either. I understand what you are saying Bryanna.

No problems involving nerves are ever simple. I would say especially in our faces. There is a huge gap in education between dentists and doctors regarding this. Many people are left suffering because of this, whether it is dental or something else. But Trigeminal Neuralgia does have a place in this conversation, and in other conversations involving nerves of the face.

And, with Trigeminal Neuralgia, pain often starts in the teeth, jaw, cheek, ear or nose and is often mistaken for dental problems.

I am a person with Trigeminal Neuralgia that had unnecessary dental work, was tossed around from doctor to dentist to doctor. If there was more knowledge and awareness of this terrible disease then we would be saved a lot of time, money, pain, anxiety and isolation.


justjane37 12-01-2014 10:47 AM

Absolutely Bryanna. It makes no sense to me whatsoever. When you look at a diagram of facial nerves it is an intricate web with the majority of the bottom two branches ending in our teeth. I don't understand why the health and treatment of our teeth are not part of general medicine, that they are treated as a separate entity from the rest of our bodies. And the problem does as much lay with doctors. Their knowledge and understanding of nerves is also very minimal.

It seems that any injury, disorder or disease of nerves is very difficult to diagnose and treat. My mom has MS and even though that disease is very well known she has as hard I time as I do with TN in receiving proper care.

The pain that the facial nerves can cause is out of this world. It breaks my heart every time I hear someone's story of endless suffering, mistreatment, confusion and isolation. I have heard stories of people having half of the teeth in their head pulled out trying to rid themselves of the pain only to be left in the same condition or worse.

I am two years in with ATN this time around (I first had it nine years ago when I was 29). I have worked very hard to educate myself and seek proper care and treatment. No part of that journey has been easy and it has been a long road. I do finally have a good neurologist. That took me a year and a half to find. But at the end of the day I am still in pain, my disease is still spreading and morphing on a daily basis and I have no choices at this point, except medication.

I have made it my mission to spread awareness and learn as much as I possibly can from other sufferers. Classic TN and Type 2 TN are very different. Us folks with ATN have very little chance of proper diagnosis and it seems no chance for a cure. I have talked to lots of people that have neuropathy from dental procedures and injuries. They are flooding the TN and ATN forums. And most of them do not seem to understand the difference between TN and injury. There is a lot of misinformation and there are a lot of people receiving invasive procedures for TN when they do not even have TN, which can land them in even more pain. And because neither side of the coin is cut and dry it is impossible to pick apart some peoples' situation and timeline on whether it is an injury or could be TN. But I will tell you that when you are in that dire pain for months on end you will try anything that anyone tells you will help. Desperation leads to bad decisions. And these folks are all out there on there own with no doctor or specialist to help them along the way.

I have learnt far more about my condition and about neuropathy and facial nerves from chatting on forums then I have from any doctor or dentist. The knowledge and awareness that we create is very important, we are all learning as we go and even better if we can help other people on their journey :)




Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryanna (Post 1110633)
justjane,

I agree TN is complicated and all too often people are misdiagnosed, mistreated and severely misinformed. I also know first hand about the huge gap between physicians and dentists not just on this topic but on most areas that connect medicine and dentistry. That is a huge problem and always has been. Dentists do not consider themselves doctors in the same sense as a physician considers himself a doctor. Dentists consider themselves a doctor of dental science which has very little to do with any area of the body other than the mouth and more specifically the teeth. Dentists refer to each other as tooth carpenters because they focus on the technical aspect of dental care more so than the physical health aspect. Physicians rarely if ever get involved in anything dental related in spite of the intricate relationship between oral and systemic health because their education falls very short of oral health. Unfortunately, physicians depend on the dentist to figure out the problem but then the dentist is most likely not thinking past the teeth and he's been taught to go to great measures to retain teeth, even those that are diseased. It's a vicious cycle and who loses every time, the patient.

I am just as frustrated about all this as you are. I feel awful about your situation and it is tough seeing patients go through this time and time again. I agree there needs to be more knowledge and more recognition about TN amongst dentists and physicians. It needs to be incorporated into their education as that is the only way to bring more awareness to it.

Bryanna


Vowel Lady 12-01-2014 08:53 PM

Thank you Bryanna...that is an excellent list of questions for my new dentist!

Just Jane....Yes, it is very sad when I go to sites and people are having brain surgeries with ATN pain. ATN pain is more than likely related to something OTHER THAN something having to do with anything involving the brain...like a compression.... (as you well know). More than likely direct nerve pain/nerve damage. And it is shocking and sad how many of my fellow ATN sufferers either got their pain after a trip to the dentist and/or developed pain and then went to a dentist and had many teeth removed needlessly or some other inappropriate procedure.

I consider myself very unlucky when I went to a dentist who VERY likely caused my ATN and subsequent dentists who likely caused further damage.

However, I consider myself blessed in that I went to an oral surgeon who was also an MD. What are the chances? This type of doctor is THE ONE! The one that can help us, really. He carefully told me that I had been hurt and that I should no longer see any more dentists. Than now I had to see a neurologist, due to nerve damage. If one can find this type of doctor/dentist....run to him or her asap!

AND, just as what has been discussed here...I tried to convince my neuro that I needed brain surgery. I was so desperate that I probably would have agreed to anything. And, then I was fortunate again. He told me the sad truth....My TN was damaged by a dentist and no surgery would correct this. That I needed to try medication (s).

So, back to what was originally stated by the original poster...it is very important to know what type of TN you have...TN or ATN and to NOT even consider brain surgery when you have ATN.

As many of us have sadly learned, medical professionals might not be "professional" at all and some might be willing to perform an uneeded procedure...even brain surgery.:mad:

We all need to educate ourselves!

pained 12-29-2014 04:03 AM

Sargenti Paste
 
That website that contains the video is what happened to me and another lady who I found trying to diagnose herself at the same time I was. Neither of us could trust our dentist to tell us the truth. I am not the lady on the video. She continues to have problems with bone infection and is waiting to see if it has spread to her bottom jaw.

I have two molars on the opposite side of my mouth from the sargenti paste tooth (it was removed) that alternate hurting like he**. Some times cold can send me thru the roof. I'm pretty sure that the top molar is cracked and the bottom needs a root canal. My bite hits on those two teeth and I wonder if I have been grinding my teeth at night.

I got a divorce and moved out of town and have no dentist and I hate to admit have not been to one in 2 years. I'm a little concerned from the posts above that ignoring these teeth that might be in need of a root canal can set up an infection???? Did I read that correct?

I believe that I have started having a lot of teeth problems due to dry mouth from all of the medications that I take. I'd prefer to just have them pulled. I can't afford implants at $5K a pop.

It is an absolute truth that many people are damaged by sargenti paste and their symptoms don't show up for months to years and they have no idea what the real cause of their problems are. I wonder how many people have jaw and sinus cancer from this stuff. I figure jaw cancer is in my future. Not only does that stuff contain formaldehyde but also lead and mercury.

Thank you for referring to my website. It is seriously out of date and has a lot of broken links. When this happened to us, we were gun ho thinking that if only the regulators (FDA and state dental boards) knew about all of the information about it, including the AES false claims of FDA approval, they would surely stop this. How stupid and naïve we were. If I had enough motivation left in me after living for 9+ years in severe pain, I'd start a petition to the FDA. Instead, I'm waiting for the head of this group to depart the earth (he is well into his 80s) and go where ever people like him go and to see if the group disbands because no body wants to carry the torch of mistruths that he has been touting. Its a disgrace to the dental patient that the industry knows about it and can protect themselves, their families and friends, but forgot to tell the rest of us. I apparently wasn't watching 60 minutes, Dateline and Good Morning America in the early 1990's when they did stories on it.

BTW, NICO is not considered ethical medicine. there are write-ups about it on quackwatch.org.

Bryanna 12-29-2014 10:55 AM

Hi pained,

Thank you for clarifying the association you have with the article and website that you posted.

The sargenti paste issue is only one harmful aspect of the problems associated with root canaled teeth. There are numerous others which are just as harmful if not more so. The rc procedure itself is severely flawed because there is no access to the hundreds of tiny canals that contain nerve tissue. That nerve tissue remains in those canals and becomes gangrenous just as any other necrotic tissue would become when there is no longer any blood supplying it vitality. The infectious bacteria that forms inside of those canals does not just quietly reside there. It proliferates and travels freely into the bone, the blood stream and wherever else it feels like it. This proliferation of bacteria is accompanied by the toxins in the sargenti paste which is carried beyond the tooth.

Irrelevant of how well or how poorly a root canal is performed or what medicaments are used during the procedure, the tooth remains diseased from the infectious bacteria residing inside of those tiny canals. All of the toxins from the toxic materials used to attempt to disinfect the interior of the large canals and used to plug up the large canals is going to accompany that infectious bacteria as it travels beyond the tooth.

I am just surprised that you would consider having another root canal in spite of what you have learned and the hell that you have been through.

A word about NICO and statements made by quackwatch. NICO, Necrotizing Ischemic Chronic Osteitis, is a very real problem which has been kept from the public forum by certain influential dental organizations for years. It's disconcerting to me when sites like quackwatch frequently misinform the public knowing full well that there are people who are going to believe that stuff. The best place to learn about NICO is from pathologists who are also dentists and doctors who are truly well informed about the subject.

If you want to learn about NICO, this site would be good place to start: http://maxillofacialcenter.com/NICOmicro.html

Thanks for sharing your story here. If you want to further the conversation or talk more about your own dental problems, please feel free to do so.

Bryanna






Quote:

Originally Posted by pained (Post 1115091)
That website that contains the video is what happened to me and another lady who I found trying to diagnose herself at the same time I was. Neither of us could trust our dentist to tell us the truth. I am not the lady on the video. She continues to have problems with bone infection and is waiting to see if it has spread to her bottom jaw.

I have two molars on the opposite side of my mouth from the sargenti paste tooth (it was removed) that alternate hurting like he**. Some times cold can send me thru the roof. I'm pretty sure that the top molar is cracked and the bottom needs a root canal. My bite hits on those two teeth and I wonder if I have been grinding my teeth at night.

I got a divorce and moved out of town and have no dentist and I hate to admit have not been to one in 2 years. I'm a little concerned from the posts above that ignoring these teeth that might be in need of a root canal can set up an infection???? Did I read that correct?

I believe that I have started having a lot of teeth problems due to dry mouth from all of the medications that I take. I'd prefer to just have them pulled. I can't afford implants at $5K a pop.

It is an absolute truth that many people are damaged by sargenti paste and their symptoms don't show up for months to years and they have no idea what the real cause of their problems are. I wonder how many people have jaw and sinus cancer from this stuff. I figure jaw cancer is in my future. Not only does that stuff contain formaldehyde but also lead and mercury.

Thank you for referring to my website. It is seriously out of date and has a lot of broken links. When this happened to us, we were gun ho thinking that if only the regulators (FDA and state dental boards) knew about all of the information about it, including the AES false claims of FDA approval, they would surely stop this. How stupid and naïve we were. If I had enough motivation left in me after living for 9+ years in severe pain, I'd start a petition to the FDA. Instead, I'm waiting for the head of this group to depart the earth (he is well into his 80s) and go where ever people like him go and to see if the group disbands because no body wants to carry the torch of mistruths that he has been touting. Its a disgrace to the dental patient that the industry knows about it and can protect themselves, their families and friends, but forgot to tell the rest of us. I apparently wasn't watching 60 minutes, Dateline and Good Morning America in the early 1990's when they did stories on it.

BTW, NICO is not considered ethical medicine. there are write-ups about it on quackwatch.org.


pained 12-29-2014 06:21 PM

Those tiny canals that are not filled/disinfected during a root canal is the whole basis behind SP....although the proponents never say that. When they mix the powder formaldehyde (paraformaldehyde) with the liquid (used to be peanut oil until we started hounding them about peanut allergies), the formaldehyde off gasses and it gets into those nooks and crannies. Unfortunately, it gets outside of the tooth too and can set up problems in nearby teeth, gums, bones, nerves, etc... Enough time goes by that people don't realize that the root canal and especially formaldehyde could be the problem. These dentists don't tell their patients that they are using SP and many, including mine, won't even tell after they injure them. I hounded it out of mine.

I'm not happy about another root canal. I can't afford an implant or a bridge and the teeth would be visible if I just pulled them. if it were back molars, they would be out in a NY minute. I don't know what other option I have.

I have always wondered how cleaning and filling the canals got rid of the infection that is outside the bottom of the tooth and is what they point to to show that you need a root canal (the big black area). Maybe you can explain that. What makes that infection go away?

I wish someone could just give me some heavy duty antibiotics and be done with this.

I live near rural areas and I see all of these people with few teeth and black ones. I can't imagine how much pain they went thru as those teeth were getting to that point. I have been relatively lucky with my teeth until this root canal and now all the meds/dry mouth. That root canal ruined my life....physically, emotionally, financially, .... the whole gamut.

Bryanna 12-30-2014 12:00 PM

Pained,

I am very well versed on the root canal procedure as I have assisted on thousands of these procedures over the course of 30+ years. You are very mistaken about the hundreds of tiny canals inside of every tooth. NO medicament, irrelevant of what is used penetrates those canals. The Sargenti Paste or whatever else is used is meant to kill off the remnants of nerve tissue that attach themselves to the interior walls of the large canals. Those tiny canals are microscopic, long and curvy. There is no access to that nerve tissue via any instrument, solution, toxin, laser.. nothing.

The toxins from the bacteria formed in those tiny canals due to the necrotic nerve tissue that continues to reside in them along with the toxins from the medicaments used to "disinfect" the large canals together proliferate through the dentin tubules of the tooth and that is how they get outside of the tooth and into the periodontal ligament, the jaw bone, the blood vessels, etc.

The area that forms at the apex (root) of a root canaled tooth.... is the result of those toxins that have proliferated through the tooth resulting in the formation of cysts and abscesses in the bone. You can surgically debride that apical area a million times but so long as the infected/toxic tooth is present, the infection remains.

The area that forms around a tooth from a non root canaled tooth, occurs from the infectious bacteria that resides inside of an infected tooth. Because the tiny canals can never be rid of infected nerve tissue, the tooth will remain infected even after it is root canaled. Once the rc is done, then the proliferation of bacteria from the infection and from the toxins of the "disinfectants" used during the rc procedure cause further injury and disease to occur in the bone and beyond.

Bryanna



Quote:

Originally Posted by pained (Post 1115216)
Those tiny canals that are not filled/disinfected during a root canal is the whole basis behind SP....although the proponents never say that. When they mix the powder formaldehyde (paraformaldehyde) with the liquid (used to be peanut oil until we started hounding them about peanut allergies), the formaldehyde off gasses and it gets into those nooks and crannies. Unfortunately, it gets outside of the tooth too and can set up problems in nearby teeth, gums, bones, nerves, etc... Enough time goes by that people don't realize that the root canal and especially formaldehyde could be the problem. These dentists don't tell their patients that they are using SP and many, including mine, won't even tell after they injure them. I hounded it out of mine.

I'm not happy about another root canal. I can't afford an implant or a bridge and the teeth would be visible if I just pulled them. if it were back molars, they would be out in a NY minute. I don't know what other option I have.

I have always wondered how cleaning and filling the canals got rid of the infection that is outside the bottom of the tooth and is what they point to to show that you need a root canal (the big black area). Maybe you can explain that. What makes that infection go away?

I wish someone could just give me some heavy duty antibiotics and be done with this.

I live near rural areas and I see all of these people with few teeth and black ones. I can't imagine how much pain they went thru as those teeth were getting to that point. I have been relatively lucky with my teeth until this root canal and now all the meds/dry mouth. That root canal ruined my life....physically, emotionally, financially, .... the whole gamut.


pained 12-30-2014 01:24 PM

thanks for the clarification. I am not sure where I heard about the gasses of the formaldehyde. I still don't know what to do about these 2 teeth. My dental insurance only covers cleanings and won't cover anything else until I've had it a year which is next September. I figure I can't wait that long although the meds for the Sargenti problem help the pain.

Why can you not just take an antibiotic and get rid of the infection?

Bryanna 12-31-2014 10:56 AM

Pained,

To explain that in simple terms.... the nerve tissue that remains in the tiny canals is being fed by the infectious bacteria that protects it from being touched by the antibiotic. The species of this bacteria is vast and keeps multiplying which makes it resistant to any antibiotic. Also, the bacteria does not stay contained within those tiny spaces. It migrates beyond the tooth along with the toxins from the disinfectant. The more systemic it becomes the more the bacteria changes to suit the environment that it settles in making it very difficult to treat systemically. This is what leads to long term and often permanent health problems.

Bryanna


Quote:

Originally Posted by pained (Post 1115352)
thanks for the clarification. I am not sure where I heard about the gasses of the formaldehyde. I still don't know what to do about these 2 teeth. My dental insurance only covers cleanings and won't cover anything else until I've had it a year which is next September. I figure I can't wait that long although the meds for the Sargenti problem help the pain.

Why can you not just take an antibiotic and get rid of the infection?



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