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Huge fear of root canal after previous trigeminal nerve damage.

J

Jojo3399

Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2012
Messages
26
Hello,

I’ve only ever had one root canal years ago and after over a year of pain and trying to figure out what was wrong, a neurologist said it was trigeminal nerve damage from dentistry work (it was numerous procedures within a short space of time on one upper left molar tooth). Thankfully within 2 years it settled.

A few weeks ago I had a deep massage where she kept telling me I was very tense. She worked a lot on my neck and head / temples area. Within 2 hours of the massage, I had stabbing pains in my left side of head. The stabbing pains were short - only a minute long and would come and go for a few days. Across my cheeks and jawline it felt like tingling / crawling nerve pain (similar to the last time).

I did not have any tooth problems at this point. No hurting to bite down and no pain in a single tooth.

Within 5 days of the initial stabbing pains, I then had throbbing tooth pain localised to a lower left premolar. When I tapped on the tooth, it was very sensitive compared to the others. Dentist said tooth infection and put me on antibiotics.

Within 1 week, the SAME tooth on the right side was aching and this required a filling a few days ago.

Is it a coincidence that within a few weeks I’ve had pain in exactly the same tooth on either side? Could this be TMJ or trigeminal pain? My jawline and up towards my ear is sore.

It has been a particularly stressful 12 months in my life and I wonder if I am grinding at night and therefore have put pressure on the same two lower premolar teeth?

It sounds like a daft question, but could the deep painful massage have triggered something? Inflammation? Blood flow? TMJ/TN pain that isn’t actually the tooth?

Or was there always an issue with this tooth and the massage has woken up an infection? It sounds mad even to type it. But it just all seems like a weird coincidence to start so suddenly out of nowhere and no issues with my teeth (I was at the dentist for my check up 5 months ago).

My dentists are fabulous and I do trust them. I just have a massive panic after the last time when I ended up getting more dental work for no reason as it was TN pain by that point.

I have attached the X-ray of the premolar they say needs root canal. On the surface the tooth looks amazing, no discolouration and no marks etc. If there’s any advice I would be extremely grateful.
 

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On the x-ray the filling is very close to the nerve, there's a clear apical area so it definitely needs a root canal. It's been brewing for a while, so might just be coincidence with the massage.
There's also some kind of connection between grinding and abscesses on teeth which are marginal due to pre-existing decay. No idea what the mechanism is but it does happen.
 
@Gordon Thank you so much! I really appreciate this.

I just confirmed this morning that I am now booked in for root canal treatment with an Endodontist in 10 days time. My infection pains started exactly 3 weeks ago so I just hope I can get the treatment in time before it flares up again / gets any worse.

I was initially given a date in 8 weeks time! However I was so keen to get one asap as I know it important this is and don’t want to leave it.

Many thanks again.
 
It should be OK, looks a fairly straightforward root canal for a specialist too, if that's any comfort.
 
Thank you very much for taking the time to say that, it is very much of comfort.

I have felt a bit daft going to a specialist to be honest. It’s my anxiety getting the better of me. After all my issues 10 years ago I always said to myself the next time round I would go do an Endo if possible.

I just hope that by leaving it a few weeks to get the Endo booked in (and not asking my dentist just to do it straight away) I haven’t made things worse with the infection side of things.
 
I just hope that by leaving it a few weeks to get the Endo booked in (and not asking my dentist just to do it straight away) I haven’t made things worse with the infection side of things.
No, it makes absolutely no difference to the likely outcome.

I got an endodontist to do my root canal recently, despite having an excellent general dentist and it was a relatively easy one too.
 
@Gordon

Hi Gordon, can I ask another question? I am booked in this week for the root canal treatment.

As I’ve had trigeminal facial nerve pain in the past (after a previous root canal treatment on an upper molar 8 years ago), is this tooth being near the foramen nerve anything to worry about?

I ended up in pain for over a year and seeing a neurologist etc, so my anxiety is starting to creep back in about it.

Just wondering if the endodontist should be taking a more up-to-date X-ray / different type of X-ray, or whether this one is good enough to go on to start the procedure?

Thank you.
 
As I’ve had trigeminal facial nerve pain in the past (after a previous root canal treatment on an upper molar 8 years ago), is this tooth being near the foramen nerve anything to worry about?
I can't see that it makes any difference.
Just wondering if the endodontist should be taking a more up-to-date X-ray / different type of X-ray, or whether this one is good enough to go on to start the procedure?
It's good enough to get started, they'll be taking more though :-)
 
I can't see that it makes any difference.

It's good enough to get started, they'll be taking more though :-)
Thank you for again taking time to answer. I hope you realise how massively appreciated you are here! 😊
 
Hi @Gordon, if you have a minute I would really appreciate your advice.

The lower premolar tooth in question (from my post above):

* Had root canal treatment with an endo and temp filling placed. Pain went away :-)
* 3 weeks later when I went back for the permanent filling, it was still tender to bite on and when tapping on it, it still feels different from all the other teeth.
* Endo said it’s best to double check so went in and cleaned it all out again and took x-rays. All looks good.

He said to give it 2-3 weeks again and then go back for permanent filling.

Right now (2 weeks later), the tooth feels the same as it did before any of the root canal treatments apart from those procedures taking away the pain (which I’m obviously very happy about!). I tap on it and it’s tender and feels different. Same with biting. Not painful though.

My question is should I push back my appointment next week and give it a few more weeks to see if it just needs time?

Or should I just go ahead and get it permanently filled and see if that helps to settle it? The temp filling does feel high.

I assume the tooth is fine as everything points to it being ok, but perhaps the gums/ligaments around it aren’t? I’ve no idea.

Could there be something else they are missing? I’ve read about cracks in teeth, is there a better type of x-Ray that would show this up?

I would massively appreciate your advice as I don’t want to waste an appointment next week (having to take time off work to fit it in) if a few more weeks would perhaps benefit it.

Thank you :-)
 
Or should I just go ahead and get it permanently filled and see if that helps to settle it? The temp filling does feel high.
I'd go and get the permanent filling done.

I’ve read about cracks in teeth, is there a better type of x-Ray that would show this up?
Unfortunately no, cracks in teeth are a massive PITA for this, amongst other things :-)
 
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