Excruciating Jaw Pain

[Chris]

Help! I have extreme jaw pain that radiates through the whole right side of my face, especially in my back teeth (upper and lower) and extends behind my ear, to the back of my head. Thinking it was something to do with my teeth, I saw my dentist, who took Xrays and did a series of tests, finding nothing. He insists that it's my sinuses (since it's allergy season), but I've had many sinus infections, and the pain is dull and in a different place. The pain was so bad yesterday, that I had to go to the ER and they gave me Vicodin (yuk!). Please, if anybody has had similar or has any ideas. The pain comes and goes and lasts between 15 minutes to 3-4 hours.
Thanks, Chris

[Greg_B]

Hi Chris.
I have a similar condition. I had pain that my dentist and I thought was my wisdom teeth so they took them all out (at great expense).
However I still had the pain and it was getting worse. So bad to the fact that I have passed out from being dizzy and in so much pain.
It affects my whole left face, ear and jaw.
I have been to a special jaw clinic and have suggested a 'bitskena' (like a mouth guard) to help my jaw relax at night in the correct position. I will see how it works.

I also went to an osteopath, who gently manipulated and massaged the muscles and that really helped for a while, but was absolute agony to have done and the next day I couldnt eat or speak. However it is well worth a try.

I have now been on strong pain killers and sleeping tablets for 8 months now and am very dissatisfied with my GP and dentist here since I wanted a quick solution. However I have been told by others that there is no quick solution and the only way is to go to a jaw/mouth specialist by referal of your dentist.

Good luck in what you are going through and just try to see a specialist as soon as you can. It seems to be missunderstood by a lot of dentists and GPs.
/G

I have been searching the web to see in any information was available on the pain that I have been experiencing for 2 and one half years. My search led me to you. I am sorry to say I have no answers for you, other than to say you are not alove, as you have described what I have been going through to every detail. In fact 2 years ago I posted something on the Web looking for a reply and I thought at first I had run across my own call for help.

The fact that I am not the only person with this in itself uplifting because I was beginning to think I was going crazy. I have been considering having my teeth on the left side all pulled out but now see from Gregg's message that it might not even stop the pain, and my dentist assures me that there is nothing wrong with my teeth.

A couple of questions to both of you -

1. I have had extensive dental work - have you?

2. I went to an Ear -Nose and Throat Specialist and he said that due to the dental work done I had tooth matter in my sinuses that caused a sinus infection A batch of medication seemed to improve things.

Lorna

I had the same pain. I was relieved of it by taking several consecutive doses of sudafed decongestant (strong dose). I believed that it was sinus related and I think that it was. I chose to use the over-the-counter sudafed which is about 5 times more concentrated. You can acquire this stronger dose by talking to the pharmacist. It is regulated over-the-counter sudafed.

This sounds a lot like a condition called trigeminal neuralgia...

Originally Posted by Greg_B

Hi Chris.
I have a similar condition. I had pain that my dentist and I thought was my wisdom teeth so they took them all out (at great expense).
However I still had the pain and it was getting worse. So bad to the fact that I have passed out from being dizzy and in so much pain.
It affects my whole left face, ear and jaw.
I have been to a special jaw clinic and have suggested a 'bitskena' (like a mouth guard) to help my jaw relax at night in the correct position. I will see how it works.

I also went to an osteopath, who gently manipulated and massaged the muscles and that really helped for a while, but was absolute agony to have done and the next day I couldnt eat or speak. However it is well worth a try.

I have now been on strong pain killers and sleeping tablets for 8 months now and am very dissatisfied with my GP and dentist here since I wanted a quick solution. However I have been told by others that there is no quick solution and the only way is to go to a jaw/mouth specialist by referal of your dentist.

Good luck in what you are going through and just try to see a specialist as soon as you can. It seems to be missunderstood by a lot of dentists and GPs.
/G

My wife has the same and has been diagnosed with Trigiminal nuralga. Carbitrol has helped her.

I too have been going through extreme jaw pain like electric shocks on one side of my face. After researching on line and talking to a friend and cousin who both had this I discussed it with my doctor. He feels it is trigeminal neuralgia. The main source of treatment is anti seizure medications. Other pain killers aren't really effective. It is hard to diagnose as many doctors have never seen it and few dentists have seen it. (I went that route too.) Fortunately my doctor has seen it and is checking now to make sure it isn't a tumor just to be on the safe side. When the anti seizue medication doesn't help they have surgery they do for it. At present I am researching the prognosis of it.

My symptoms are exactly like what Chris described. They started about 2 weeks ago, and I have yet to figure out how to ease the excruciating, sharp pain. The dentist has suggested taking antihistamines, and said many people have been in complaining of similar "discomfort" which he attributes to seasonal allergies.

Because the pain is so erratic, it is difficult to know what antihistamines/pain relievers really work. Also, I have found no pattern regarding what triggers the pain.

Well it has been interesting reading what others are going through. I started to have pain on the right side of my lower jaw almost 4 weeks ago. It wasn't bad at first and I thought maybe I was getting a cavity. I went to the dentist and had x-rays, I was told by the dentist that he could not see anything. I let it go at that and was mildly uncomfortable for the next two weeks. On Mothers day we went out for dinner and my jaw started to really hurt.It was like someone was jamming an ice pick into my tooth and jaw. I thought it was a tooth ache. The next two days were extremly painful. The major pain would last from 15 minutes to an hour, it would then die down to a dull pain. I went to the dentist again and told him the tooth I thoughy it was, that tooth has a crown on it by the way. He tapped on that tooth and all the ones around it with a metal intstrument and that did not cause me any additional pain. He said if it was a tooth ache I should have jumped out of the chair. He indicated it could be tmj brought on by stress and that once I was aware of this it would probably go away. It has not gone away, I have been to my GP and now to an ENT. Pain pills do not make a dent in the pain when it comes. Holding water in my mouth on the painful side stops the pain until I swallow the water then it comes right back. I have also been given muscle relaxers and so far they do not help. The only thing that seems to help me is Motrin 1b and the only thing I can think of is that it is an anti inflamitory and that's why it works. I also have been getting as much sleep as possible. I am going to have a scan done in a few days and see what that reveals. Good luck to the rest of you this is a very strange and unsettling thing. I will let you know how it goes as the diagnosis devlopes.

please let me know what you found out. your description sounds identical to mine and they did a root canal...now its worse.