Your description is spot on to what I've been feeling on the left side of my face. The burning began on the left side of my tongue 5 years ago when I was only 19, and has spread into my gums, jaw, ear, etc. The dentist kept shrugging it off as burning mouth syndrome, eventually I couldn’t take it anymore switched my dentist and was sent to an oral surgeon (same that removed my wisdom teeth 9-10 years ago). He found nothing and sent me to a neurologist, whom assumes it is Trigeminal Neuralgia. MRI and CAT scans came back clean, so we tested medicines for an entire year that all failed while my pain continued to increase. All the while I'm trying to do well in my college classes while working part time. Lyrica provided me some small relief which has since waned. With all the meds failing I was sent to a neurosurgeon to speak about MVD surgery, he changed my diagnosis to Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia.

My surgery was scheduled for October 2011. Before surgery I appeared ill and eventually fainted after the IVs were connected. Surgery was cancelled and I was admitted to the hospital for a high blood count, after some tests they found I caught C Diff, a contagious stomach illness, during the pre-surgery examination. I was put into isolation and forced to spend a night at the hospital. It then took me about 2 months to finally completely get rid of C Diff. I had not gone to school that semester in hope of surgery and now had to choose yet again if I should skip another semester or have surgery. I chose school and finished up my sophomore year with hopes of surgery in early summer.

Right before finishing school I had some minor cavities filled on the right side of my mouth. When leaving the dentist she said in approximately a half hour the numbing effect would wear off. 10 hours later I’m considering going to the hospital because it still feels like I was just injected. I decided to sleep it off and the next morning the numbness was mostly gone. A faint numbness and bruise-like feeling lingered months after the procedure. I went back to the dentist three times; she even took free x-rays and couldn’t find anything wrong. My family doc believes she may have injected a nerve and he said some uncomfortable feeling could stay for some time, but it has now been 6 months and my right side is feeling similar to my left side, minus the constant burning (thank God). Both sides feel like there’s a shoe string going around my cheek bone and ear that is constantly being pulled tighter without ever releasing any slack. My cheeks at times tingle like they are asleep. At times putting an earplug in my left ear helps the sensitivity of my pain.

So anyway surgery has been delayed on the left side until both sides are checked out thoroughly by the chief oral surgeon at the hospital, who supposedly is good at determining if it is indeed trigeminal neuralgia. Of course because he is the chief of the department he was very booked up and I have to wait a month and a half to see him. Depending how long it all takes I’ll probably be forced with the dilemma of missing school again.
Sorry I typed so much I haven’t been on the site much since my last hospital stay. I’m sorry r0xmyface0ff this probably isn’t a story you want to hear, without insurance I don’t know what I would have done. I was without insurance the first year of my pain so never really got it checked out at the time. At this point I only have two years left on my mother’s plan so I’m hoping to get some major help before that time, although Obama’s plan may change some things. If you do decide to pay to see someone definitely make sure they are educated about ATN/TN or better yet specialize in it, I’ve seen a handful of doctors that know little about it and therefore are clueless or misdiagnose.