Nerve Inflammation - More Than Average After Tooth Extraction

[futurehope]

I'm noticing something else about myself. I had a problem tooth - long story - which I finally had extracted, one week ago. Instead of "curing" my problem, the nerves in the area remain inflamed causing pain and forcing me to take pain pills. According to my oral surgeon, this is not unheard of for a lower molar.

I think, after looking back on this "unending tooth saga", that my facial nerves get traumatized easier and take longer to come back to baseline. Is this another symptom of POTS?

Is my nervous system malfunction contributing to the longer than normal recovery to a routine tooth procedure?

Any thoughts?

[Csmith3]

I don't know the scientific answer, but I do know that it takes me much longer to recover from dental work than normal. My dentist will say "it'll be recovered in X days", and it's always much longer.

I had loads of dental work done last year and it took three months to settle down. I was starting to get worried my teeth were never going to stop hurting and made a mental note not to get so much done in one go again. The good news is that they have always returned to normal in the end.

[futurehope]

I don't know the scientific answer, but I do know that it takes me much longer to recover from dental work than normal. My dentist will say "it'll be recovered in X days", and it's always much longer.

I had loads of dental work done last year and it took three months to settle down. I was starting to get worried my teeth were never going to stop hurting and made a mental note not to get so much done in one go again. The good news is that they have always returned to normal in the end.

Thanks for the response. I can certainly relate to what you said. I seem to take longer recovering from anything.

[persephone]

I had this too- I ended up suffering from Trigeminal Neuralgia which I posted on here recently. It was horrendous- much more intense than people would normally experience with dental work. I was screaming and crying and unable to ewat for four days- it took me far beyond my pain threshold.

I thought what was happening to me was more about Ehlers Danlos and fibromyalgia than POTS, to be honest- as those two conditions areknown to alter pain perception. do you have EDS as well?

[juliegee]

YES, YES, YES. For some reason, it takes longer for our nerves to settle down. I recently had a crown put on a back molar. The pain of that procedure (for weeks after) eventually put me in the ER. The surrounding nerves hurt like the dickens, even my ear. I had to sleep on a heating pad, I used my son's old antibiotic drops in that ear (even thought it wasn't infected- it felt better!) and I was prescribed narcotics (which I didn't take because I tend to react to them.) The pain was awful- for maybe a month- especially in the middle of the night. I don't know why it took longer for my nerves to calm down, but they eventually did. I'm guessing you have a similiar thing going on. Sorry, I know it's awful. Treat your symptoms and eventually the pain will fade.

Julie

[tinkerbella]

YES!!!!! worst they ever seen! They can't even find the right nerves to numb.

once I had 21 shots of lidacane they sent me home for their lunch.

I came back gave me 3 more and I WAS FINALLY numb.

now I'm allergic to lidacane.

[futurehope]

do you have EDS as well?

I do not.

[futurehope]

YES, YES, YES. For some reason, it takes longer for our nerves to settle down. I recently had a crown put on a back molar. The pain of that procedure (for weeks after) eventually put me in the ER. The surrounding nerves hurt like the dickens, even my ear. I had to sleep on a heating pad, I used my son's old antibiotic drops in that ear (even thought it wasn't infected- it felt better!) and I was prescribed narcotics (which I didn't take because I tend to react to them.) The pain was awful- for maybe a month- especially in the middle of the night. I don't know why it took longer for my nerves to calm down, but they eventually did. I'm guessing you have a similiar thing going on. Sorry, I know it's awful. Treat your symptoms and eventually the pain will fade.

Julie

oh Julie, I can so relate. The pain is a killer. It radiates around the jaw to the ear and up to the temple. I refuse narcotics as well. They make me sick. But I have been living on massive doses of ibuprofin with some tylenol in addition.

I hope I didn't have a tooth pulled for pain that would have disappeared after another month? I had waited 6 weeks.

[juliegee]

"I hope I didn't have a tooth pulled for pain that would have disappeared after another month? I had waited 6 weeks."

Oh dear, help me understand. You had previous work done on it & the pain didn't fade so they yanked it? And you still have pain? Yikes!

Maybe it was longer than a month, must have been. I do remember it was awful. When the pain wouldn't go away my dentist did an other X-ray to see if I needed a root canal. The X-ray looked fine. So did my ear (checked out by an ER doc & my PCP). My dentist wanted to send me to an endontist- he couldn't believe I'd have this much pain for a little crown. I resisted and things eventually calmed down.

I'm so sorry you actually lost a tooth- maybe unnecessarily. How awful! And, the worst part is that you're still in pain. I'm sending gentle hugs and prayers your way.

Julie

[futurehope]

Oh dear, help me understand. You had previous work done on it & the pain didn't fade so they yanked it? And you still have pain? Yikes!

Julie

I had no idea of a problem under an existing crown.

A routine x-ray showed decay (they showed me the x-ray) under the crown.

Dentist did major drilling to demolish the existing crown, fill the new decay, and build up tooth for a new crown.

At 3 week mark, the tooth still bothered me, and I was hesitant to put a crown on (the tooth was probably cracked by the drilling).

I had a $940 root canal.

The tooth felt even worse.

One week later, returned to endodontist who did a second root canal on it in case he had missed a root - he had not.

Tooth continued to hurt. Endodontist told me to wait 6 weeks to "see" what was going on. At this point, pain was radiating up the side of my face to the upper arch and to my temple.

At 6 week mark, tooth still did not feel right when pressing from outside to inside on it.

Endodontist said it was a probable fracture to which there is no remedy except for an extraction.

I researched on the internet to convince myself that it was a probable fracture (wish I knew about it before I spent $940 on a root canal).

Had the tooth extracted which sent my pain to 50 times worse.

It's been an experience.

I have no idea if it was really cracked, or my "sensitive" nervous system needed more time after the redrilling and/or after the root canal to stop the pain?!

Now, I seriously wonder how I can survive a tooth implant? Anyone had one?

[juliegee]

How awful! I totally get it. I had almost the exact same experience, but I never visited the endodontist. I just waited in extreme pain. Because the X-ray didn't show a problem with my root canal, I hoped it was tangled up nerves... How incredibly frustrating. My Mother has autonomic issues and has a tooth implant. I think I recall it being very ant-climactic. But, I will check with her to be sure. Maybe it won't be so bad.

Hugs-

Julie

[Rachel]

This is a very interesting thead. I didn't realize that others also took so long to recover from dental work. About three years ago I had a filling on the left side of my mouth, and it was painful for a very long time. I had to chew on only the right side of my mouth for a whole year before the pain went away. I went to the dentist and had it checked, but everything looked okay. He said that he has pain for a long time after a filling, too, and he understood how bothersome it could be. It took a year for the pain to go completely away, but I haven't had any problems since.

Futurehope, I'm so sorry that you've been through such an ordeal with your teeth. That sounds so painful. I've never had a tooth implant. I hope that it goes well for you and that it does not increase your pain.

Rachel

[futurehope]

Silly me. Our blood circulation probably is deficient in our head and neck especially when upright. This probably affects healing (of nerves) in the area. Just my uneducated guess.