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Does plaque caused tingling of gums?

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bexr

Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2009
Messages
22
I really hope someone can help me?

I have been flossing every day, brushing twice a day (electric toothbrush, min of 4 mins each time I brush), and using a mouthwash every day for 5 months. I have been exemplary in my diet and have only drunk water.

I do not have any blood when flossing or brushing.

I know I have a slight build up of plaque, but nothing that is very visible.

I have had a numb, tingling sensation across the whole of my upper-right gum - from where the gumline visibly meets the crown to where my gum meets my cheek and palette - for months now. My dentist says he cannot see anything.

I've already been to a charlatan NHS dentist, and am now having ALL the work she carried out (both necessary and unnecessary!!!) treated by my new dentist.

This feeling is sore and uncomfortable. It's almost like I've had the top layer of skin burnt off?? Although, the gum only looks very, very slightly inflammed and red (hardly noticeable).

Is it possible that there is some plaque underneath the gumline, and that it is irritating my gum. Or does it sound like nerve damage (my old crappy dentist did an unnecessary root canal up there, on a tooth that should have only had a filling)? Could there be some decay still present that she didn't get rid of and then she put a filling back on top???

I'm at my wit's end. My new dentist wants to carry out all of the other treatment I need to have to fix what she did first before investigating this.
 
Perhaps you should quit the mouthwash. It might be irritating your gums.

Clearly a matter of opinion but I hate mouthwash and I don't think it does anything useful. Just more chemicals in your body.
 
It could be the mouthwash, that is the most simple answer. It could also be somethign a bit more serious. Have your dentist do a panographic x-rax to check for any cysts. Cysts can often get wrapped up in nerves and send all sorts of mixed signals to the oral cavity. The reason I suggest a panorex is because if the cyst is way up there in the gumline and facial area bite wings will not be able to observe the area and as such the dentist will not be able to look for the telltale margins of a dental cyst.
 
Wouldn't the dentist have seen a cyst on x ray? If all this work is being done then I assume you've had x rays?
 
Thanks for your replies!

I know 100% that it's not my mouthwash. (If anything, my mouthwash relieves the symptoms very slightly for about 30 mins after washing.) The 'feeling' started after the root canal of a pre-molar. It has been continuing for months.

Some evernings I am in so much discomfort I am crying. I am now resorting to rubbing anbesol on the area to give some immediate relief.

I had a panographic x-ray done back on 18th December, although this was not done by my dentist. As my original dentist tried to extract a molar and failed miserably, she referred me to a private anesthetic clinic who also take NHS patient referals. When I went there on 18th Dec to have it extracted, they carried out a panographic x-ray beforehand. Would they have been obliged to tell me if anything else was wrong, as I was just there for an extraction of one particular tooth.

I can't see why I wouldn't be able to get a copy of that x-ray and I will call them first thing Monday to find out.

The tingling/numb, burning sensation in my gum was present before I had that x-ray.

Slightly concerned as I am starting to have the same feeling on the other side of my mouth now. In the place where my new dentist carried out 2 white fillings a week and a half ago....

The awful thing is that I haven't been able to eat solid foods for 2 weeks now, as there is a problem with one tooth in each of the 4 parts of my mouth.

I'm really starting to lose faith in my new dentist too. When I went to see him for my initial check-up just after Christmas, he only took bitewing x-rays of my upper right and lower right. Wind forward to last weekend when my lower left 2nd molar started killing me, so I went in as an emergency on Monday, he x-rayed that side, showed me I had pulpal damage, and carried out an emergency treatment of drilling down into the tooth and taking out the top part of the nerve. I do feel that if he'd x-rayed me fully a couple of months ago then that would have shown up then??

Is there a huge difference between NHS and private diagnostics? Do NHS dentists just treat what the patient tells them to? Do I need to pay for a full private work-up of my mouth to see exactly what's going on?
 
I would say its definitely the mouthwash, I had a burning an tingling sensation in my gums and thought I had a problem with my crown, the tingling an burning didn't start immediately after using it but a about an hour after and would last for ages.

When I stopped the mouthwash, after a few days the feelings went away.

I now use a mouthwash every couple of days and rinse thoroughly after with water, you can also buy alcohol free mouthwash.

If you are at your wits end i would try stopping the mouth wash for a couple of weeks an see if it improves. :)

Oh and another thing that made mine bad was whitening toothpaste that really burnt my gums - are you using that?
 
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Thanks for your replies!

I know 100% that it's not my mouthwash. (If anything, my mouthwash relieves the symptoms very slightly for about 30 mins after washing.) The 'feeling' started after the root canal of a pre-molar. It has been continuing for months.

but you started the mouthwash about the same time from what you say. Why not do a test by not using the mouthwash a couple of weeks. That way you will be sure. Something like this could be a localised reaction a bit like you have dermatitis on the skin. Or it could be related to the nerves. Perhaps a nerve was traumatised during the root treatment. That may be difficult for a general dentist to diagnose unless they have good imaging equipment. Although I thought that type of complication was more likely from an extraction. If nerve related it should hopefully get better over time. But the redness you mention makes it sound as though the nerves are not an issue, but that it is more likely to be some sort of localised reaction.

Did you have a crown done on the tooth? I have had a similar problem with gums when I had a poor margin on a crown. The problem was resolved when I had the crown replaced.
 
Is there a huge difference between NHS and private diagnostics? Do NHS dentists just treat what the patient tells them to? Do I need to pay for a full private work-up of my mouth to see exactly what's going on?

Actually I can't remember when I last had a full panographic x ray. I think it may have been when my cracked tooth was wrongly diagnosed as needing root treatment (by the dentist who did the x ray...).

I have found that private dentists often do x rays only on specific areas that appear to be causing problems. They usually use the bitewings method too. If youre planning extensive work or if you ask for a full exam they will do the full set maybe. But I guess you don't always need x rays every six months. I had full x rays at an nhs dentist a few years ago and was told I needed this and that done. I have not had this and that done (I saw an ad for a sonicare in his surgery and went out and bought that instead) and subsequently nobody has mentioned the two issues he pointed out again (private or nhs). That was back in 2002.

So even if you have full x rays they may be misleading as it's often down to individual interpretation when there are no symptoms and if the x ray is inconclusive. Ive actually had three opinions from a dentist and endo and another dentist (all private). The first dentist the one who did that panographic x ray I mentioned first, immediately refers me to an endo saying i need root treatment. The endo sees a crack and tells me ooh that could mean extraction even. I see dentist number two and he says theres absolutely no evidence of infection (the first dentist thought he saw a "shadow") and dentist number two fills the tooth and says lets see how it goes. So the tooth is fine over a year and a half later. Go figure....
 
Ultracain said:
Bitewings never detwected this and the only reason it was found before it started eating away my jaw more is because I said I felt a tingling sort of sensation coupled with pressure and a feeling that one side of my lower jaw was bigger than the other.

This is exactly how it feels. Tingling/numb sensation across the whole of the gum, I feel a weird pressure (esp. when I lightly touch the 'insides' of my teeth along that part with my tongue), and the area does feel 'larger'.

A few weeks ago I stopped using the mouthwash for a week, and the situation didn't get any better, so as the mouthwash relieves the symptoms slightly after using it, I've gone back to using it everyday.

I don't use any kind of fancy toothpaste - just Colgate Total or Colgate Triple Cool Stripe (no whitening, etc.).

One of my friends, who is an A&E nurse, said that although she's not any kind of expert, it sounds like a nerve problem?

And yes, I did have a filling applied. The 'bad' tooth up there was a pre-molar that needed a filling. My orig dentist gave me a silver filling. I couldn't get on with it at all (it conducted heat and cold so badly that I couldn't drink or eat anything that was anything but tepid - I don't know whether it was her workmanship or whether that happens with metal filling??). I went back a week later, and instead of taking the filling out, she carried out a root canal and then put a white filling in!?? :o After reading lots of stuff since, would it have been possible that she didn't apply the first filling properly and left stuff exposed so that the tooth became sensitive? :confused:

I didn't have ANY problems or pain up until October, when all I went in for was a broken cusp of my lower-right 2nd pre-molar (which didn't hurt). Now I have a mouthful of pain and problems - a lot of which has been caused by poor workmanship or work that should never have been carried out in the first place.

I never used to be be afraid or bothered about dentist before. I am rapidly losing any faith I ever had - I just want to be pain free!!!!!! :cry:
 
Hi Bexr,

I have simular Tingling/numb sensation and weird pressure on my bottom front teeth and gums.

Did you manage to findout the cause?

Hope you are better now.

Badchi
 
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