M
MountainMama
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2018
- Messages
- 2,593
I am having pain in my lower left jaw, but I can't tell if it is coming from one of my molars or from the jaw muscle. How can you tell the difference?
The pain is fairly dull, not sharp or throbbing. Most of the time it is in my actual jaw, not directly below the teeth, but behind. There is pain in the muscle when I slide my lower jaw forward or backward, but not severe. No pain when I sleep. It starts after I wake up, and has been fairly consistent the past week, but does not hurt to chew (although I am not eating anything harder than pasta). Sometimes there is slight pain under the tooth, but mostly in the jaw itself. The first molar is sensitive to heat and cold but not lingering pain.
Also, who do you go to for TMJ pain? My dentist dismissed the jaw pain the last appointment. Will an oral surgeon be able to help with it? I really feel comfortable with the surgeon.
I don't want to visit the dentist, as he wants to crown the first molar, saying it is cracked, even though there was no pain on the bite stick test. My gut feeling is that something is wrong with the 15 year old amalgam filling (or decay under it), but he said the x rays were fine. I am terrified to lose ths tooth yet, as they are my only chewing teeth right now.
The pain is fairly dull, not sharp or throbbing. Most of the time it is in my actual jaw, not directly below the teeth, but behind. There is pain in the muscle when I slide my lower jaw forward or backward, but not severe. No pain when I sleep. It starts after I wake up, and has been fairly consistent the past week, but does not hurt to chew (although I am not eating anything harder than pasta). Sometimes there is slight pain under the tooth, but mostly in the jaw itself. The first molar is sensitive to heat and cold but not lingering pain.
Also, who do you go to for TMJ pain? My dentist dismissed the jaw pain the last appointment. Will an oral surgeon be able to help with it? I really feel comfortable with the surgeon.
I don't want to visit the dentist, as he wants to crown the first molar, saying it is cracked, even though there was no pain on the bite stick test. My gut feeling is that something is wrong with the 15 year old amalgam filling (or decay under it), but he said the x rays were fine. I am terrified to lose ths tooth yet, as they are my only chewing teeth right now.