K
Kns
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2017
- Messages
- 115
I have an upper second molar that has been increasingly painful around the gum. There’s no swelling or pimple indicating an abscess visually. I have seen my dentist recently and my endodontist. The dentist noted that the gum and cheek tissue looked irritated/inflamed like I have braces (I don’t). He took an xray and did percussions tests which didn’t hurt. It’s not cold or heat sensitive. It’s a molar with old large fillings and some recurrent decay (no root canal), so it’s slated for a crown at some point. It feels like the tooth and gums hurt, but when I press on the tooth it’s not painful. The endodontist did percussion and bite tests, too. The endodontist was evaluating the entire upper left area as I have had two premolar root canals already for pain on that side recently and still have pain on that side of my mouth. He has suspected a neurological issue for a while, although one of those RC teeth did have a pinched nerve dying inside. The dentist and endodontist rederred me to a faculty orofacial pain specialist at a dental school. I have developed an open bite over the last two years. My jaw joints were just scanned and nothing was noted by an oral surgeon. I’m waiting to get in to the faculty specialist and I am not sure what the wait will be. In the meantime, that back tooth wakes me up at night and has a painful burning sensation around it that I can’t ignore and doesn’t respond well to Tylenol. The tooth is worn a bit to the gumline it seems on the palatal side. Could a neuralgia cause bad gum pain around one tooth? Or is it hard for dentists to diagnose an abscess or need for root canal or extraction when only pain around the tooth exists (rather than tapping pain)? I’m going on a road trip soon and I am terrified this pain will become even more severe and ruin it. Or worse, a horrible abscess is lurking and spreading. My anxiety wishes I could have an antibiotic or treatment of some sort to help immediately. But my dentists are conservative about over treatment since I have had a lot of continued pain and odd sensations on that entire side of my mouth for the last two years (numbness, dull and stabbing pain, burning, sensations of pinching and cold without stimulus). Is it hard to distinguish a bad infection from a neuralgia? Sorry for the long post, I am just in pain and worried!