Question Title: Head Pains and Dental Work

Here is my question. In January, I had two wisdom teeth extracted, both upper
and lower on the right side. It was uncomplicated. Again, in early April I
had the two remaining wisdom teeth extracted. The lower was impacted but was
still relatively uncomplicated. In May, I received a full set of braces (upper
and lower) as well as a palatal expander. This expander has been applying
continuous pressure on my upper teeth. Can all of this dental work somehow
be causing the symptoms that I have described above? Another fact worth mentioning
is that I had some head trauma as a child and suffered a concussion. The
accident also left my jaws locked for over a week and to this day I still
get pain every now and then along my lower jaw. Could the wisdom teeth extractions
have disrupted something in the jaw causing this pain???

Any information would be greatly appreciated. I've already seen three doctors
out of fear that I had a brain tumor. They all are relatively sure that it
is not a tumor although none of them has sent me for a scan. One told me it was
stress, another told me it was all in my head, and the third and final doctor
told me I suffered from "Ice-Picks" and there was nothing I could do about it
except live with it.

Is there any one out there who can point me in some sort of direction??

Thank you in advance, and again, my apologies for the "book" :)

Sherry

=

This sounds like some sort of neuralgia, related to transient irritation of a nerve and resulting spurious electrical impulse generated therein. The signal is interpreted as if it really was triggered by some mechanical stimulus (after all, that's what such a nerve is designed to communicate) and the brain understands it as intense pain.

From the location, I'd say it's occipital neuralgia. Some people get facial pain in a certain distribution called trigeminal neuralgia. Some get throat pain related to glossopharyngeal neuralgia. As you can see, the basic idea is the same, the name changes to reflect the name of the involved nerve (it's the doctor's job to know the anatomy).

Interestingly, people with trigeminal neuralgia often have dental procedures done after their pain starts, assuming their problem is related to their teeth. This isn't the case with you. The occipital nerve is not anywhere near the teeth or any structures which would have been operated on by the denstist.

I wonder if there might have been something about the chair - perhaps your head was positioned in such a way that the nerve was mechanically bothered (the occipital nerve comes up the base of the skull in the back). Hard to say. Sometimes people just get the occipital neuralgia with no explanation.

See a neurologist or a headache specialist. If it proves to be a neuralgia, then certain medications can be useful which wouldn't be used in other sorts of pain syndromes. Sometimes suboccipital nerve blocks are helpful.

If you want to see a headache specialist at CCF, you are welcome to call 800 223-2273 and ask for ext 4-5559. This post can't substitute for medical advice, as you know. I hope this helps. CCF MD mdf.