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Year of tooth trauma, discovery of brain tumor and what does a pulsating tooth mean?

D

DJN

Junior member
Joined
Jun 22, 2014
Messages
2
I just had a back top molar pulled after a year of telling 3dentists that I cracked it. The tooth was under a crown. Two regular dentists and a root canal specialist told me it couldn’t be cracked under a crown, as all three took x-rays and there was no visible root damage shown. At first no pain, the tooth was very sore for about 5 or 6 weeks then it subsided and I really was not sure if it was the last tooth on top left or the second one in. After it subsided I favored that side and begin chewing mostly on the right side of my mouth. About 2 months later I bit on a piece of something hard again on that side of the mouth and the pain came back but only lasted about 3 weeks. Then I really favored that side. I did tell my dentist about it and he did take an x-ray at a cleaning visit, no pain then and no visible root change. He said he could send me to a specialist or I could wait, that it may go away and be fine. I chose to wait as I am not a dentist lover. However, I must say this dentist was the best dentist I have ever experienced and I have been to many. Much to my dismay, he retired in June of this year (2014). Eventually I begin to feel a pulsating in one of those teeth, which I found hard to put the finger on which one was pulsating. But, any pain continued to stay away. After several months of nothing but slight gum pain and occasional pulsating in the area I experience three darting pains in the left side of my face, just above and to the left of the temple. I went to myDr. I did tell her of the dental problem, but it was not really troubling me. I began to have headaches which were not necessarily located on the left side and a few twinges of the darting pain again. This happened in about March of 2014. She advised me to have an MRI. So, by April I was having an MRI, first no dye and then with dye as they found a small tumor (they called it a cyst) in the center of my brain. Great! I am claustrophobic so I chose open MRI. With drugs that went ok and the second one with contrast went ok with drugs as well. When I went to the neurosurgeon he diagnosed it as a low grade glioma. He felt the pain on the left side of my head and even the shooting pains had nothing to do with the “cyst” and that my Dr.should pursue other avenues of diagnosis. So we had a blood test for trigeminal neuralgia, which proved negative. She had one other diagnosis that she felt it might be, which was temporal arteritis, but she doubted it. In the meantime on June 6th,I did start experiencing gum pain and headaches that were not horrible but made me call my new dentist whom had also taken x-rays and viewed the previous ones and he put me on antibiotics until I could get to the endodontist he recommended. I called the endodontist that afternoon and made an appt. for as soon as they could get me in which was that following Wed. I never made that appointment. By that evening the pain was beginning to come in intervals with shooting pain to the top of my head that would then radiate down around the back of my neck. All the while the teeth not bothering at all except for some occasional gum pain. I thought I can make it through the night and I will call the Dr. in the morning and leave a message that I need to get in sooner. By 11:30 pm I had my other half taking me to the hospital the pain was so severe. I told them I thought it was a tooth creating the problem. There were no signs of an abscess, so I had an EKG, 2 or 3 times, a cat scan without contrast and then one with contrast asI had told them I had been diagnosed with a brain tumor recently, but I did not think that was the problem. They saw the tumor, measured it and it had not changed in size. Then I had x-rays of my lungs, because I began to feel intense pressure in the heart area. The emergency Dr. quickly gave me a dose of intense liquid anti-acid, which did solve that problem almost immediately. He also explained that all the medications they had administered on a practically empty stomach had probably created indigestion. Relief! When I first went in the pain was so severe they started me on intravenous antibiotic, Dilaudid and saline solution or whatever you call it for hydration. Thedilaudid only worked initially as they rolled me off to the first test the pain came right back and the dilaudid did nothing for it. A few hours later they gave me Percocet,which I thought would cure the pain and so did they but after the initial dose of that the pain was back in full force and frequent intervals. At about 6:30 am they put me on Percocet and that seemed to work. At 7:30pm they sent me home with a prescription for Percocet and a note that said I had an abscess. There was no abscess, but I guess they were sure it was the tooth causing the problem. I missed that day at work a Saturday. I had been in severe pain all night and was in no condition for anything. I took a brief nap in the morning and in the afternoon. In between I had to make calls and at 8:30pm that evening I had to go pick up my Mom in a different town from an Alumni full day of celebration. To say I was done in would be an understatement. On the following Monday I called the endodontist, told them what had transpired and that I really needed to get in sooner if at all possible. They got me in on the following afternoon, Tuesday June 10th instead of the 11th. The Dr.proceeded to tell me all about root canals which I already knew about as I had had a not so good one some years before. I had also had a cracked tooth before and the pain was exactly the same. I should have listened to myself. He also took the 3rd or 4th x-ray which said would probably tell him if the root was bad. It did not. He proceeded to blow cold air and cold water on the side of those teeth and when he hit the last one I went through the roof. So he needed to drill through the crown to see if the root was bad. Guess what?! He drilled about 3.00mm and found the tooth was cracked deeply and badly. The tooth had to be pulled. I had him stop, pull all equipment from my mouth which was high invasive as I was about to have a panic attack. He referred me to an oral surgeon. They even called and set up the appointment which I was told may only be a consultation. When I got there I pleaded with them to please pull the tooth. I told them because of the tooth I had discovered I have a brain tumor, probably unrelated, but in reality we do not even know that. And they must have felt badly for me because they squeezed me in and gave me all the drugs I thought I needed as I wanted not to feel a thing. The Dr. was a delight, young, accomplished, gentle and even thoughtful. Called me at6:30pm that evening to make sure I was doing alright. He had also told me there was no visible infection in the root of the tooth he pulled at all and he gave me the 3 parts of the tooth. In the meantime, the pulsing is still there and so it is the tooth next to the one that has been pulled and is now the very last molar on the top left of my mouth. My question is does pulsating mean I should have a root canal on this one to determine if the tooth is a problem or let it keep pulsating? I am in my late 60’s and I do not really want another root canal and I would rather just have it pulled. What does pulsating usually mean?:scared:
 
Re: Year of tooth trauma, discovery of brain tumor and what does a pulsating tooth mean?

Made a mistake in medications received while in the hospital. First was Dalaudid intravenously, then vicoden, pill form, then Percocet, the one that finally worked.
Does no one have a reply for what a pulsating tooth means?:hmm:
 
Re: Year of tooth trauma, discovery of brain tumor and what does a pulsating tooth mean?

I'm so sorry to hear about all that you've been through, DJN.

Unfortunately we're (mostly) amateurs on this forum-- patients helping each other out with stress and anxiety and whatever information we have.

There are some dentists who volunteer their knowledge on the "Your Dentistry Questions Asked" forum on this site, so you might get some better information there. But it sounds like you already have some dentists trying to work on the problem.

In my experience as a patient, a throbbing tooth is usually a sign of infection or decay somewhere, but sometimes it's hard to locate specifically. If you reacted the way you did to the tooth that was pulled, it probably had some kind of problem, even if it wasn't visible. Perhaps another tooth also has a problem which is still causing the throbbing, but it sounds like that tooth needed to go anyway if it hurt that bad.

I know from personal experience how frustrating it is to be in pain and not be able to determine why. Some teeth hurt even though there's no evidence on the X-ray to explain why. I had a tooth that was throbbing (it had previously had a root canal) but there was no visible break or infection on the x-ray. My dentist told me to watch it and try not to chew on it too much for a couple of weeks, and when it got no better, she re-did the root canal and it was immediately better.

Unfortunately there's no way to tell you what's going on from a web forum. But you should definitely get some advice from your dentist about the options. I don't think ignoring it is a good plan.
 
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