Question about Dental Work
 

I'm newly diagnosed with TN by my primary care doctor. I'm a 35 year old female, mine started with stabbing pain that I thought was me needing a root canal somewhere on the right side of my mouth. I went to the dentist, he looked at my teeth, took x-rays, and tapped on them all. None of my teeth responded like they needed any immediate dental work, and there weren't signs of infection. He didn't think my teeth were causing the problem.

He thought maybe I had a bad sinus infection and sent me to my PCP, who diagnosed the TN and put me on Gabapentin. I've been on it for 3 days and its already helping - I can still feel when I get the pains shooting through but its like they're turned down low (like if you were watching TV and turned down the volume). I can talk, eat and walk around now so that's an improvement.

Anyhow, while I was at the dentist, I made an appointment for a cleaning on the 29th. Right now, touching the gums on the right side of my face seems to be one of the triggers. I don't see my doctor again until the 30th, should I reschedule that dentist appointment?

I also have a couple general questions - do I need to see a neurologist? If I get a cleaning and ask them to numb those gums, will that work or will it make it flare up worse?

Hey there! I'm glad the Gabapentin is helping. That's good.
In my experience with going to the dentist, I find that the pain increasing is unavoidable if I'm having a particularly bad pain day. If you are having work done then yes you very much need numbing. If you're up for it, ask them to add extra to all the areas where your pain is affecting you if they are working on that side. If it's just a cleaning, I would recommend trying nitrous gas vs numbing as I find the numbing can create tenderness on the injection sites which can lead to the pain flaring up. Make sure you take some Tylenol or Advil for any inflammation. It's very much a matter of trial and error to find out what helps and works for you.

I would suggest seeing a neurologist. It's always a good idea and can't hurt. They can rule out other possible causes and know the treatment for TN. They know which medications to prescribe and how to dose them. They are more knowledgeable of TN than other physicians.

Hope this helps.

Whenever I have dental work done, I take a little extra gabapentin beforehand. So far, so good!

Also, we are not supposed to use the regular numbing agent. My dentist knows this and uses an alternative drug. It isn't as long lasting, so I needed multiple doses during a root canal, but it worked just fine.

I would make sure that your dentist is knowledgeable about TN. I switched dentists after diagnosis because my dentist said "he had heard of it!" I trust my current dentist completely.

I hope this helps.