Had a sudden onset of severe joint pain and stiffness in my hips, lt. knee and hand, starting about a year ago. The symptoms last sometimes for a day or two, up to several wks., with one or more joints affected at any time. Pain and stiffness is worse with prolonged sitting, immobility, etc, and only mildly relieved with NSAIDs, moist heat, etc. Health hx. of: 54 y.o. physically active female with hx. of rheumatic heart disease, mitral valve prolapse, cardiac arrhythmias, osteoporosis, and latex allergy. Have just completed Rheumatology work-up to r/o SLE and RA, with extensive labs. Per the MD, the only significant findings were: ANA positive, elevated Rheumatoid factor, and mildly elevated CRP. All other labs. were negative. Physical exam showed "hypermobility syndrome" also. Bone scan of the body only showed a "questionable" area in the lt. cheek area. A recent cardiac re-evaluation showed stable valve and cardiac function, excepting for some arrhythmia problems which are being addressed with medication changes. The Rheumatologist wants to see me in 1 yr. to re-evaluate. The only other thing I could think of was that I had a lt. upper molar fx. with an extraction and bone graft in Nov. 2005. Since that time, I continue to have some intermittent pain in that area, especially with the molar directly in front of the one extracted (That tooth had a root canal and crown placed about 15 yrs. ago.) I realize that I am probably grasping at straws, but could there be a correlation between the bone graft and the sudden onset of joint pain?