I got diagnosed yesterday by an ENT as having TN..a little background...I was diagnosed with TOS in November 04 and had surgery in November on the left side to remove my cervical rib. I then had a severe car accident on January 3, 05 that nearly severed my long thoracic nerve. I went through **** to find a doctor that could help me. I had surgery in May 05 in Houston with Dr.Nath.

I went along takin major painkillers and ended up wrecking 4 times so I got off of them...now after having dental work for the second time since then, I finally found the reason it always sets me off...Ive had this problem with getting numb and mind blowing pain after every time I have dental work done on the left side for over 10yrs...since I was 19 or so. The same side I had my rib out and my LTN decompressed...Now due to all the muscle spasms I am starting to wing again. (My scapula sticks out). Its like all that surgery and pain for nothing...

My tongue swelled and started dancing on its own. I had lock jaw and couldnt eat or drink because it hurt so bad. I ended up in a psych unit for three days due to the depresssion and because I couldnt eat and swallow good and because no one understands this disease.....Why do dentists not know about this???? why when I tell them I have problems getting numb and always have so much pain afterwards do they still not understand when all the teeth on the left side hurt...they just sedate you and go on with their work...How do you go through dental procedures and not have this happen???


They want me to go back to a Neurologist and have more tests..I know it will keep me in this flare as well as incite the TN to act up again if they do an EMG but I need to go. I dont have enough weight on me right now to go through it again. I have to make myself eat but im having a hard time swallowing, and because my doctors think Im more a mental patient right now they are doing nothing..they are waiting for medicines to not interact on me and control this debilitating depression.....so I wait in pain for this to end.

I know I was happy getting off the roller coaster to no drugs..Im sensitive to everything they give me now. Once you go through detox you are hyper sensitive to all the pain meds...and the one time you need them you cant take them. I will survive I will get through this without depression...at least im trying. Thank god for some of the Tossers for staying in touch and keeping my chin up...I couldnt see the light at the end of the tunnel but I do now...well a little anyway.

Any help on getting through another dental procedure would really help..I have 4 more root canals to go through.

Ask the doc to use Marcaine instead of Novacaine to numb you. "Marcaine can desensitize the trigeminal nerve for up to 10 hours. " (direct quote from SB) I also have them use Nitrous and the hygenist uses a lot of topical medications to boot. You need a really good dentist, one you can communicate with and is willing to listen and be patient to help you through any dental work where TN is involved or suspected.

Good luck to you. EE

There's info on keeping TN pain under control during dental work on the Trigeminal Neuralgia Assoc. website. You'll need to register with the TNA to view the page, but it's free and painless. Here's the link -

TNA Home Page - www.fpa-support.org

Dental Issues - http://www.fpa-support.org/aboutfp/dental.html

There's some more info at the following -

http://www.tna-support.org/newlook/c...onf/Dental.htm
You can also call the TNA at 800-923-3608 and ask for a Professional Dental Packet which has information for the dentist on what TN is and how to treat you to minimize your pain during and after dental work.

Dental training includes maybe a paragraph or two on TN in the course of a couple of years of school. One of the TNA's missions is to spread the word among the dental and medical fields. The average time to correct diagnosis of TN has been 7 years. Hopefully, with the internet and TNA's efforts, that is becoming shorter.

Good luck and holler if you have any trouble with those links.

Jean

Hi ginnybean,

I've been in the dental profession for many years as a chairside assistant. I have seen the agony that patients go through with TN and other facial neuralgias. I have also become acutely aware of the association between infected and/or root canaled teeth and systemic disease. I urge anyone who is contemplating having a root canal to please do some research on this procedure before having it done. One informative place to start is:

http://www.drshankland.com/root_canal.html

And some good information on TN:
http://facial-neuralgia.org/conditions/tn.html

I wish you well ~'.'~
Bryanna