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Need some serious advice please!

L

LivingInFear

Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2009
Messages
25
OKay I have posted here before, about my serious fear of the needles (not so much the poke, but more the fear of the soreness and pain after the freezing comes out. I have had serious problems in the past. Every bad thing that could happen with local anesthetic HAS happened to me... multiple times! (problems with Epi and heart racing/sweats etc, hematomas, and damaged nerves... it has all happened to me) This has resulted in me refusing the needle for many many years!!! I was adamant. The fight to get treatment without the needle and under sedation just increased my fear more. Though, eventually they gave in and said I could have just nitrous oxide and no freezing as long as I never flinched etc... and I didn't... no matter what I felt!

Fast forward to recently.... I am in the military and they dont have a nitrous oxide qualified dentist at the base right now, so they sent me to a local civilian dentist. A female... who also specializes in fearful patients. She was wonderful! I had 3 apts of work to do (all just replacing fillings). We had an agreement of 3 things and I would allow her to try local along with nitrous:

1. NO EPINEPHRINE
2. NO BLOCKS (she was allowed to freeze near the tooth only... so no inferior alveolar block etc.)
3. NO Rubber Dam

and I made her PROMISE to inject as absolutely SLOW as possible, and to use as little solution as possible.

The first 2 apts were great. The local wore off as I was leaving the office, and no soreness. And she was great. And she made sure I was well under the nitrous for the injection (she bumped up the nitrous a little during the injection then backed it off a bit)

Ok NOW THE PROBLEM I NEED HELP WITH... a bit of time has passed since the first 2 apts, and I think she forgot that she wasn't supposed to do a block due to my jaw muscle problems (TMJ issues). I was under the nitrous when she injected and too out of it really to protest at the time, but I felt like the injection was way further back than it should have been... behind my back bottom tooth. And it HURT! Even though I was looped on nitrous and she used gel first it still hurt! My whole bottom jaw on that side along with tongue etc were frozen.... I am 99% sure she messed up and used the block against my wishes! I dont blame her though, I should have reiterated it. :( My issue now is I can't open my mouth at all! My jaw is SOOOOOO sore on that side that I have not been able to eat, and can barely talk. I have been holding my teeth in a shut position since the apt on Friday. Two full days have passed and I am no better. If I try to force my mouth open, its like an intense shooting pain felt at the very back of my mouth kind of between the upper and lower teeth and the pain shoots back into my jaw joint and up to my ear. It feels like really bad muscle pain. I also was able to get a finger in my mouth alongside my teeth and opened my teeth enough to just barely feel the skin between my upper and lower jaw on the inside and it hurt very badly when I pushed on it, like an intense soreness.

I have been double dosing (2x 225mg) of Aleve (Naproxen Sodium) since Friday and that helps a little bit but as soon as it wears off, the intense soreness comes back. I am on Christmas leave now and away from any military dentists (or any at all for that matter) and really hoping someone can tell me what I can do to alleviate this!! I really want to be able to eat some of the Christmas goodies! :( Eating aside, this is making me miserable!!

On a positive note, all the work is now done! I never thought I would ever allow someone to try the needle again, and I got past it. So I am proud I did that, and the first 2 apts went well, she literally injected so slowly that it must have taken over 5 mins to do. And she had no problems with just injecting around the tooth (warning that it might wear off sooner) instead of a block. She agreed to no clamp/rubber damn, and gave me as much nitrous as I needed. I would allow her to do it again with local, but only her and only under nitrous... so the military will have to send me to her in the future :) I dont blame her for this, like I said, a long time had passed and she likely forgot that I had issues with the block. But it does prove that I can not tolerate the block for future reference. It was not (as some dentists tried to say) all in my head.

Someone please help me open my mouth again! :(
 
Just an update... almost day 3 now, and still no improvement, aside from temporary relief with OTC naproxen (Aleve), and that just dampens the soreness, it doesn't get rid of it completely.

I also tried magic bag heated in the microwave, and it felt ok while it was on but no lasting effect.

Neither of these things make it easier to open though. They only help with the soreness a little.

The only things I have gotten into my stomach in the last 3 days are completely liquid as I cant even get a level spoon into my mouth. I am starving and getting frustrated. :(

Is there anything else I can do? I can't even try 'gentle' stretching open as any opening at all hurts the muscle back there.
 
Get to a physio ASAP, I assume you can access one quite quickly in the military. Your jaw joint is just another joint and physios are good with joints!

Ice packs may help, as would a steroid pack injected into the area of the TMJ, but you might not be so keen on that idea, so try physio first!
 
Thanks Gordon for answering...

My issue is that I am on vacation for Christmas and I am nowhere near the base! So I won't have access to physio at least until after Christmas. I don't want this progressing into full blown trismus where I can't physically open again (which has happened in the past... also from a block injection)

I tried to force my mouth open today even though it was very painful... I was literally in tears, but I got it open a bit more.

If the needles cause this much pain and soreness, what is the point? If they are supposed to take pain away, why do they cause so much afterward??

I honestly think I was better off with no LA injection!
 
Do they have private physios in the US? Here you can arrange to see one on your own if you're prepared to pay for it. How about your medical doctor? Could they refer you to a hospital physio dept?
 
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