dental nerve damage
 

I suffered parasthesia all over the left of my face following 3 injections of articaine for a procedure on an upper canine. I felt no electric shock sensation during the injections that i can remember. Only a mild prick which i assume is normal for any injection. The parasthesia gradually diminished and after 3 months i thought it had gone away but it has come back and that whole side of my face doesnt feel the same.

Sometimes changes in temperature or simply stroking the cheeks will elicit the feelings of tingling, burning and prickling which lasts anywhere from a few seconds to longer. Other times it just starts on its own.

Is this as good as it will get or will it improve further? or could i be left with this intermittent problem? could it even get worse? It has now been 4 months since the procedure.

Some people do recover from injection injuries. Usually those who don't recover never feel relief at 3 months. That's A plus on your side!

that sounds so much like trigeminal neuralgia! Have you looked that up ever? See if the symptoms match!

There is a Trigeminal Neuralgia Forum here.

Trigeminal neuralgia is not the same disorder as trigeminal nerve injury induced by dental procedures.

exactly my point. And so my question is which do i likely have? maybe it switched from trigeminal nerve injury to neuralgia? thats my worst fear

It doesn't switch from one disorder to another! A dentist/oral surgeon can usually determine if the condition is really dental related.

jimkh,

According to your past and current posts here about this specific tooth, you had and still have a severely infected tooth in which the gum and now your sinus seem to be involved. This nerve injury or neuralgia you think you may have could very well be related to this long standing infection. Have you consulted with an oral surgeon about the extent of the infection?

it wasnt severely infected to begin with. The xray showed a small black area. You have seen the xray. After the root canal, any moderate pain i had, diminished but after 4 months, the tooth is giving me burning sensation above it.
I dont know if its a reinfection or nerve damage. Usually burning is a sign of nerves? if it was a reinfected tooth or abcess wouldnt the pain be continuous and hurting rather than the burning or numbing that i feel?

help, please....cleo
 

Cleo:

I have suffered from dental caused trigeminal nerve pain/damage for 10 years. I would LOVE to discuss your procedures and history with you. I need help and advice and your posts seem to contain a lot of wisdom.

Please write me at*edit*..if possible. I would be so appreciative.

THANKS!!!!!!!!!

What procedure caused it?

hey cleo
 

Hi:

It was an infected tooth # 30. I tried to save it.....2 root canals and an apicoectomy...nothing worked so had it pulled. pain stayed even after tooth was gone..then dental professionals at UCAF and Stanford had me chasing pain all around the back right of my jaw...root canaled 3 other molars and then ended up pulling all of those...after all of that...still have the exact same pain in spot where tooth number 30 sat. It is not typical trigeminal neuralgia b/c it hurts all the time....deep throbbing pain in the bone. I have had several debridements and no infection was found....one CT scan showed that there might be some bone pushing against nerve so I went in again to have it cleaned...still no pain relief. Only time I have relief is when I get an anesthetic injection, pain then goes away for 2-3 hours until drugs wear off.

I think nerve was damaged during apicoectomy that is when pain got really bad....even when tooth was just infected it did not hurt as much as when i had apico done.

have taken tons of abx too just in case there was infection...no help.


also dr's at ucsf and many others i have scene say it is not TMJ.

It's driving me insane and the opiods i am on to control pain are less and less effective.

is there any way we can communicate directly? or is that not allowed? cldnt find a way to private message you.

thanks

I grass...I developed VERY bad, out of control, pain after a prolonged dental procedure. (I had no pain at all prior to the procedure)

Trying to get answers and pain relief, I visited many dentists for help. I was talked into a root canal, which didn't help at all. I was talked into having my tooth pulled and a graph put in...which didn't help and may have made the pain slightly worse.

One of my medical doctors took an inordinate amount of blood work and sent me to the hospital for many many more vials of blood. I had the graph in my mouth removed and the area biopsied looking for infection...but nothing showed infection.

The one little bright spot in this very bad nightmare, is the last dental professional I saw was an oral surgeon, who was also an MD.

He told me that I had suffered nerve damage and to see a Neurologist.

Many medications were tried, but I had too many difficult side effects. I ended up using a special made compounded cream which I rub on my face...right side...jaw line and in the ear area. In the cream is Gabapentin and two other meds. This did the trick...and has helped me a lot.
I also take Baclofen and Desipramine (tablets by mouth). All together, it has taken FIVE meds to help control this pain from hexx: three in my cream and two pills by mouth.

Common meds that seem to help nerve pain are Neurontin (Gabapentin) and Elavil.

ImHO, if you can find an oral surgeon who has a medical background, that would be IDEAL! However, seriously consider seeing a neurologist if you feel strongly you are facing nerve damage.

It's been three years for me of extraordinary difficult pain, fear and life altering pain. However, very recently, I sense (knock on wood) I am getting more control over the great discomfort. Believe me, it is still there, but I feel more and more,control with my medications. I have a strong med to take for emergency purposes, but am using it less and less. This is where you need to be and I sense from what you have written, this is what you are looking for.

It's so sad that you have lost multiple teeth and still have pain.

Don't give up! For the first time in three years, I have hope and a decent amount of control (with meds) with reference to my dental experience which led to nerve damage and severe pain. Blessings.