Sensation just on left side of face
 

I have had a (constant) strange sensation in the left side of my face for a little over a year now. I am a 28 year old(f) and i did have a cavity of the left lower jaw that was drilled also over a year ago. The dentist that i had at the time was pretty ruff and i think he may have drilled into and damaged a nerve? not sure. This feeling feels like tightness and pressure and slight muscle weakness although i have full use of my face. I can feel it in my cheek, around my eye, forehead, chin and left side of neck( all on the left side). I feel my face has become slightly less symmetrical but no one else seems to see a change.

I have had an MRI which was normal and i have seen 4 neuros. 2 of the neuros think i have a form of trigeminal neuralgia that is uncomfortable rather than severely painful. I do not think i have tri- gem but i of course cant say for sure. This feeling is CONSTANT- the only time i do not notice it is when im asleep.

I have tried acupuncture, massage therapy, physical therapy w/ electro stim( this felt good but the feeling never went away completely) and now i have been seeing a chiropractor. I have also seen other dentists and now wear a nightgaurd every night to protect against occasional grinding/tmj.- I can open my mouth fully, no cracking etc- but apparently i do clench my jaw when sleeping.

I did try to ignore this feeling for 4 months before i tried to find treatment- I was convinced i was just sleeping on the left side of my face all night and thats why it felt like my face was always pressing against a table. Trying all these different treatments is just very expensive and nothing seems to be really resolving it. I can feel in that side of my face so there is no loss of sensation/ total numbness. I know it could be worse and i could be in constant pain but this is still feeling is still very uncomfortable.

Whats most frustrating is that i don't know whats causing it and every time i go to an MD they talk about things like MS, brain tumors, perry romberge and other terrible conditions while i think there is a good chance this may not even be neurological( i.e nerve damage?).

Anyway im considering trying thermographic imaging( for tmj, and the face?). I want to try what i can instead of ignoring this feeling. The fact that it may be permanent is very upsetting to me.

Thanks for letting me share! I hope me posting here isn't at all disrespectful to those who have severely painful conditions. I am just trying to seek knowledge and information outside the MDs office!

Hope everyone feels better soon( in a perfect world we all would!

Did you have a root canal or just a filing?

I had a root canal and I swear for years I kept saying that that area was bugging me. everyone kept saying "you had a root canal, you should not be able to feel anything." so I chucked it up to anxiety and finally moved on.

Years later, a new dentist did some xrays of my teeth for my yearly exam and said he saw a shadow at the tip end of the nerve of the tooth. it was faint, but there. He sent me to an oral surgeon to check it out. The oral surgeon said I have very long roots on my teeth and frequently folks with long roots dont get the full benefit of a root canal because the instruments they use dont always reach the bottom of the canal, and they usually leave some infection behind. Then it takes years for the infection to rear up again.

He gave me two choices. I could pull the tooth (which I am against) or I could have the root of the tooth sawed off. That would be a surgical procedure done in the office. I chose that one. I was given a truck load of novacaine, and it only took a few minutes. He said that a pocket of infection had broken thru the floor of my sinus and was hiding there.

Once the procedure was over, my weirdo pain went away.

I would suggest having your dentist really look at the xray the next time you are due for an exam, and closely examine the area you are sensitive about. TN is normally VERY painful, and you dont normally question it, you need strong pain meds to get thru it.

I hope you feel better. :hug:

Thank you for sharing your experience! I am going to ask my new dentist to look closely at my x-rays now to see if there might be an infection.

I just had a filling but he drilled very deep and it was super painful for days afterwards, this same tooth had been drilled multiple other times so the last time he really seemed bent on being thorough and getting all of the diseased parts of the tooth. That being said there could still be an infection there as the tooth was not removed totally.

Anyway, thank you for the info- Im seeing a chiropractor who has been working with my apparent TMJ so hopefully that will help get rid of this feeling- I am trying just about anything i can!

Thanks!!!

trigeminal neuralgia
 

I know the feeling you are talking about. I bet it hurts to smile. My whole life I have had head, face, and ear pain. I was sent to ent, dentist,(had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled trying to relive pain) went to the dentist for tmj. Most the time drs said it was sinus trouble. Finally I went to a neurologist. The neurologist waved paper on my left side of my face and it did not bother me the she waved it on the right side of my face and I almost hit her. It sounds like Trigeminal neuralgia. You may have a hard time getting a doctor to consider Trigeminal neuralgia due to your age. Even after my nero dr diagnosed me my primary dr had did not believe it because I was only 32 years old. I remember the cheek pain then the jaw pain then the head pain. Sometimes it would burn and I would put ice on it. I would not waste any money on the dentist until I saw a neurologist if I was you. If you have any questions I will be happy to talk with you about trigeminal neuralgia.

A couple of ideas about your diagnosis....
 

You said you had an MRI...so you had an MRI of your brain? Did it show and infection? Did you get a copy of the radiologists report for your own files and read it yourself? Did you ask them to burn a CD for you and look at the images on your PC at home? If you have an infection in the cavities in your cranial region maybe that could explain the pain? Were you given an antibiotic? I don't like it when a "medical professional" tells me to just "pull it out" or "cut it out", etc. Time for a second or third opinion. Unfortunately some doctors either don't know what they are doing and don't seem to care, or they are so busy they miss things. Get thee to a good University Med Ctr if you can. Another thought...could it be a cranial nerve issue, and or/a decaying of the mylein sheath that protects the nerves? Could it be a de-myelating disease of some kind? Please forgive misspellings. BTW Did you know that sugar substitutes have been reported to damage the myelin sheath around our nerves! I do not drink any diet drinks, or anything diet anymore for that reason. Encourage you to research this. Interesting that your dentist did not seem very excited about referring you to an expert???? I sometimes think that HMO's pay some physicians under the table to save them money by not providing the level of care they should be. Often we have to fight for ourselves, demand, research and all that ourselves. Hope you feel better soon.

CRPS II on right side, including face/head
 

I've had CRPS type II for seven years resulting from venipuncture nerve injury to nerve in right arm. It spread (overnight) to upper right quadrant of my body after 10 months, then spread (ovenight) to rest of the right side of my body after 2 years. Since then, it's been pretty constant, although mostly well managed with gabapentin & Cymbalta and biofeedback, exercise, and keeping warm.

So, I have neuropathy almost all of the time on the right side of my face and head, as well as most of the rest of the right side of my body. For me, since I have symptoms on the right side only, it's usually pretty easy for me to tell if a sensation is CRPS-related.

The symptoms you are describing for your head are EXACTLY what I feel all of the time on my face. Kind of like a pressure feeling on the skin, burning, "prickly" sensations, etc. Like the hair on the right half of my head is annoying just because it's there. Affected areas on face/head are pretty much everywhere, although symptoms are stronger around eye (eyebrow & inside of eye), upper lip, cheekbone area, front of ear, and scalp.

It's typically just uncomfortable sensations rather than painful, although with me I generally get shooting pains with my flareups, including shooting pains on the skin of my face. So, my symptoms from CRPS are clearly different than what I hear described from patients with trigeminal neuralgia (serious pain more than discomfort).

CRPS can be caused by nerve injuries during dental procedures, so please be agressive about following up with a neurologist that is open-minded about considering this.

Good luck!

Exact Same Sensation
 

Hi
I came across your post and have had the exact same sensation on the left side of my face for the last three weeks. I wondered if you ever found the cause of it and if you still have it or if it has gone away

Hi kmefstratis,
As you can see, these Posts are from 2012. If you could possibly go into more details of your symptoms and history, dental, injury, infections etc I'm sure some of our current members will be able to help.
I suffer from TN and chronic Neuropathic Facial Pain and Parasthesia, and there sre many others with this, and Dental Nerve issues.

Dave.

OMG i have the same symptoms as you? has it resolved for you at all

Welcome P_M94. :Wave-Hello: