Whole mouth just hurts

[NellR]

I had treatment for periodontitis about four months ago — whole mouth root scaling and planing, and cavities filled. I‘ve been using the electric toothbrush my dentist recommended since then. My mouth felt fine for a couple months but now my whole mouth hurts almost all the time. The pain isn’t localized to any one (or more) spot. Oddly, if feels *better* when I’m eating, or even just sucking on a mint. Also it doesn’t hurt when I’m lying down. I’m scared to call my dentist as I’m not ready to go through another planing/scaling again ... I have extreme anxiety and had a horrible time getting through all the treatment the first time. Does anyone have any idea what’s going on with me? Could I have some kind of infection? (I’m otherwise pretty physically healthy). Help??

 

[Niall Neeson]

Hi NellR,

Firstly, I cannot emphasise strongly enough that you have completed the hard work. There are 3 components to treating gum disease- 1. The active phase- this is the challenging bit- thorough cleaning to remove as much bacteria as possible to allow the gums to heal. 2. Good oral hygiene habits and 3. Regular attendance for routine cleans.

Honestly, you’ve done the difficult bit The beauty of the return cleans is that there’s only a fraction of the cleaning to be done. It makes it so much quicker and easier! Please please please return for the simpler cleans or honestly, all you hard work, effort and cost will just go to waste as the bacteria and build up gradually accumulate again.

In relation to the pain, it’s very difficult to say from this info. It really work benefit from someone looking around the mouth, assessing one or two things and discussing more details of the pain.

my advice is return to the dentist (or find a new one) but before you return let them know how you feel about your previous experience and see if they can suggest anything to make things more comfortable for you.

Sorry I don’t have a simple diagnosis for you.
Hope this info helps you.
Cheers, Niall

 

[NellR]

Thank you so much for your quick response. I feel compelled to add that one thing I did not do was have impressions done to have a night guard made, which I know I should have done. I just couldn‘t take any more visits — I was there ten times . Could grinding my teeth at night be causing the pain? My dentist was understanding and seemed very competent — it’s not an issue with her. It’s me <sigh>. She was out of ideas for making me more comfortable though. I’m a tough case — her hardest ever, I think she said :/

 

[Niall Neeson]

Yip clenching or grinding is certainly a potential source of the pain. Certainly worth following up on. If the splint/ guard settles the pain, it may also be easier to consider the routine cleaning etc.