M
Msashleyw2010
Junior member
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2020
- Messages
- 6
- Location
- Florida
Good morning!
Three weeks I had an impacted molars removed on the bottom. It was a second molar. It was very involved and took 45 minutes. Lots of drilling and pulling and yanking before it finally came out. After 1.5 weeks I went back to the dentist because I began having some jaw pain that radiated to my ear. The dentist said everything appears to be healing nicely and gave me a syringe. She told me the ear pain is not related.
I went to my ENT a week ago to rule out ear infection and they said my ears look fine and told me I am likely experiencing referred pain from my extraction.
Now here I am 3 weeks post op and my jaw still hurts along with my ear on the right side. The pain seems to be the worst in the morning and when I try to eat. I mostly chew on the other side.
The extraction site has not closed yet but I imagine that will come in the coming weeks. I am wondering if perhaps my TMJ was irritated by keeping my mouth open so wide for so long during the procedure? I'm wondering if this will just take time to heal? I'm trying to decide if I should go back to the office again or just wait it out to see if it goes away? Is it unreasonable to think that it may take a bit longer for this to heal since it was such a difficult extraction?
Three weeks I had an impacted molars removed on the bottom. It was a second molar. It was very involved and took 45 minutes. Lots of drilling and pulling and yanking before it finally came out. After 1.5 weeks I went back to the dentist because I began having some jaw pain that radiated to my ear. The dentist said everything appears to be healing nicely and gave me a syringe. She told me the ear pain is not related.
I went to my ENT a week ago to rule out ear infection and they said my ears look fine and told me I am likely experiencing referred pain from my extraction.
Now here I am 3 weeks post op and my jaw still hurts along with my ear on the right side. The pain seems to be the worst in the morning and when I try to eat. I mostly chew on the other side.
The extraction site has not closed yet but I imagine that will come in the coming weeks. I am wondering if perhaps my TMJ was irritated by keeping my mouth open so wide for so long during the procedure? I'm wondering if this will just take time to heal? I'm trying to decide if I should go back to the office again or just wait it out to see if it goes away? Is it unreasonable to think that it may take a bit longer for this to heal since it was such a difficult extraction?
I know the pain must be highly annoying to be having to deal with after what seems to be a long and difficult procedure. Now I am not a dentist, but I do think that jaw pain can radiate into the ears;the TMJ is located right in front of the ear canal so I would not find it particularly unusual to have painthere if you had TMD. The ENT visit confirms it’s not an ear problem. Keeping the jaw wide open for nearly an hour could contribute to it as well... the second molars are set very far behind so you must’ve strained your muscles to open your mouth wide enough to allow the dentist to poke around in there. I’ve had jaw pain flareups in the past and I would suggest keeping something warm like a gel pack or towel on the jaw for 15 minutes a go and gently massaging the area where it hurts as well, make sure to rest your jaw as much as possible by keeping your teeth apart and lips closed and avoiding resting your chin on your hands, yawning widely, eating tough chewy food, that sort of thing... you can take ibuprofen in the meantime to ease the pain. It took me really long to ease my jaw (about a month or so), I theorise it’s because the jaw is used so much during the day that it’s a very slow process in letting it relax. Also pain in the morning, just after you wake up could mean that you are clenching or grinding your teeth in your sleep. I wouldn’t think it’s a bad idea to ask your dentist just in case, maybe they can take calls? And I would imagine that an uncomfortable extraction would be unpleasant for a few weeks, your mouth has to adjust to a missing tooth and it takes months for the jawbone to fully fill up in normal situations anyway.