New here. To give you a small history. I am a 42 year old female good health. Since June 2014 I get this ice pick pains on the right side of my head maybe a few inches from my ear. This has only happened about 7 times. They last any where from 1 to 5 minutes. While I have this pain I get dizzy, vision is blurry in both eyes, I am co inherent, once it is over I have to "get my bearings" back and then its like nothing happened. No more pain nothing.

Well now in the same spot of the ice pick pain for it always happened in the same spot I now get this pain that almost feels like it is bruising my head right there. It's not a stabbing pain put like someone is rubbing me really hard right there on my head. These only last a few seconds to minutes. But that is all it does.

I am starting to get a needle pricking feeling on my left cheek. It feels swollen but it's not, it's not red in color or nothing. Looks normal but feels like it is sun burnt.

I don't know what is going on. I have had an MRI and my doctor said it was fine. I am just having headaches. I have never had a head ache.

Some one please help me understand what is going on.

Hi kdodrill,

I am sorry you are having this pain and other very unpleasant symptoms. I am in the dental field and I'm not sure I can help you but I have a few questions to ask if you don't mind answering.

What is the health of your teeth and gums? Have you ever had any extensive dental work, such as large fillings, crowns, root canals, or extractions, on either side of your mouth? Have you ever had orthodontia, braces on your teeth? Do you know if you clench or grind your teeth? Does your jaw feel tight or achey when you wake up in the morning? Does your jaw on either side click or feel tight when you open your mouth wide or yawn?

Have you ever had a head injury or whiplash?

Are you under a lot of stress?

Can you pinpoint when the episodes of sharp pain occur? Does the bruising feeling occur after an episode of pain or just on it's own? Does it happen more in the morning or more at night? After eating... stressing, relaxing....??

If you are comfortable disclosing more information, myself and perhaps some others here can try to help you.

Bryanna

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Bryanna as for my teeth I have dentures and have had them for about 3 years now both top and bottom. The head pain happens all the time rather I am driving, watching TV, walking, there really is nothing that sets them off. My husband said I even get them at night.

I did get whiplash about 23 years ago. The bruising happens afterwards. I am a very healthy, and since all this I have no energy I feel off I guess you could say and the pains in my head. I do know I am twitching more during the night. Usually it is my legs but I guess it is so bad that I have left marks on my husband. Very seldom does it wake me up unless I kick so hard it jolts my hole body.

Just don't understand. I don't know my medical history for I was adopted at one year of age.

Hope this helps.

Hi kdodrill,

Okay, thanks for sharing that information.

So to summarize what you have described in your past dental history, you have had extensive dental problems and oral surgery. Many times our body does not develop or show physical symptoms of an ongoing problem until that problem becomes severe and/or more widespread. So those issues may be in part or the cause of what is happening to you since June 2014.

I assume that your teeth were in poor condition prior to having them extracted. Perhaps you had rampant tooth decay and/or periodontal disease that went untreated or was treated unsuccessfully? Perhaps you even had some extensive restorative dental work like crowns or root canals prior to the teeth being removed?

The bacterias that cause oral infections in our teeth and gums is very progressive and it can linger in our bones and blood even after the teeth are removed. It can be difficult to eradicate oral infections if they had been severe and/or present for a long time. Again, physical symptoms of a chronic infection like this can be delayed for weeks, months even years sometimes. An example of delayed symptoms would be in someone who is suddenly diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease. Neither of those things occur overnight but the symptoms do not usually appear until the problem has progressed. Also sometimes the symptoms seem so far fetched from what the actual problem really is which makes it seem like the problem suddenly occurred. I hope I explained that okay.. let me know.

Another point here is your dentures. Did you have full mouth extractions and immediate top and bottom dentures put in? Or did you have a tooth here and there extracted over time and then one day have dentures made? Are you still wearing the original pair of dentures?

When someone has a full set of dentures, the shape and support of their natural arch eventually collapses because there is nothing in the bone to hold everything in place. Healthy teeth actually hold the bone firmly in place and prevent it from receding. Unhealthy teeth, depending on the circumstances, have less hold on the bone and bone loss occurs. The time frame for this deterioration to occur depends on the condition of the teeth and gums prior to the extraction of them. It also depends on the sequence the teeth were extracted, over what period of time they were removed and how soon the dentures were placed after the extractions. Age and overall bone health are also important factors.

If your dentures are ill fitting, even just worn down, your poor occlusion (bite) can be irritating and inflaming specific muscles, nerves and tendons in your head and face. This would account for sharp, searing pain... dull pain... intermittent pain... referred pain ... and tenderness like a bruise as the inflammation never really settles completely causing blood to pool in certain areas. The pain could be ignited just by biting your dentures together in a certain way which touches an inflamed nerve and sets things off. You may not even be aware that you are doing this. Do you wear your dentures to sleep at night or remove them?

Have you seen your dentist within the last year or so? I would suggest that you consult with him, explain your symptoms and have a panoramic xray done of your upper and lower jaws in their entirety.

The twitching at night, could be you grinding your dentures or jaws together during your sleep and it hits against an irritated nerve area and sends a jolt through your body.

Something else that comes to my mind.... it's not unusual for denture patients who have pain similar to yours to have some pieces of un-extracted pieces of teeth floating around in the bone which decide to move to a spot that irritates a nerve. This is why the panoramic xray can be helpful. Not all general dentists have this xray equipment so you may have to see an oral surgeon.

What are your thoughts on what I have given you so far?

Bryanna

I do not wear them at night. I was wrong on how long I have had dentures. In 2009 I was fighting periodontal disease. Did not have any root canals or crowns. After gum scaling, antibiotics the oral surgeon thought it would be best to remove. So we did. I was put under had uppers and lowers removed at one time a temporary dentures for almost a year then my permanent ones.

With the removal of my teeth it has done away with my grinding and TMJ.

kdodrill,

Okay so you had periodontal disease which is a progressive bacterial infection that takes time to develop and then can be difficult to eradicate. Prior to the extractions for however many years, your oral health was in jeopardy and during that period the bone began to break down. You had to have a very advanced case and a fair amount of bone loss for the oral surgeon to decide to remove all of your teeth not long after the scaling and antibiotics were done. It sounds to me like who ever did the scaling procedure did not realize how advanced your periodontal disease really was.

The removal of your teeth was necessary but please understand that there are no longer any teeth present to support the density or curvature of the bone structure. So the bony ridge is most likely fairly thin and flat in many places. This is what typically happens to the bone when all of the teeth are removed. However, some people do okay when that occurs while others do not. Sometimes the bone loss can be severely worn down in areas that cover some nerves. When that occurs, those nerves are no longer protected by bone so they are vulnerable to anything that irritates them.

I read on the headache forum that you were seeing a neurologist in 2 weeks. A neurologist cannot check your oral health or the fit of your denture. So most likely he will just prescribe medications. I sincerely urge you to see a dentist or oral surgeon for the panoramic xray to determine the health and structure of the bone. Also, it is very important for denture wearers to have an oral screening once a year to see if there are any abnormalities occurring and to check the denture for fit, wear pattern on the teeth and proper occlusion.

I hope this information is helpful to you.
I wish you all the best.
Bryanna