About this possible Trigeminal Neuralgia...

[Fluffysmom]

I see the dentist this evening.  I've managed to keep the pain level down to a dull ache, with only a few shockers when I bit down wrong or ate a piece of cold lettuce.

My question is:  Should my dentist see me with the pain at its worst?  Kind of like when you go to a neuro appointment tired, having taken a warm shower and vacuumed the entire house so your symptoms are acting up?

Its and awful thought, but should a chew something crunchy on that side and then have some frozen yogurt before my appointment?  Should she see me with the pain flared up, instead of just describing it and letting her tap around and try to aggravate it herself?

It makes me shudder to try to think of bringing my pain level back up, but it it helps to show more clearly what's going on, then I can handle it, then take my bedtime Lyrica when I'm through.

Opinions, my friends?

Kathy

[Wobbly]

I would go to the dentist...and talk with him/her and go from there..see what they suggest...explain the pain and how it changes etc.

let us know what you do...

take care
wobbly
undx

[Fluffysmom]

Thanks, I was kind of leaning towards the just explaining things instead of flaring up the pain.  No need to torture myself.

It's still another 4 hours until my appointment.  It's a long day when you're waiting to see the dentist at 6 pm.  I thought about calling and seeing if anyone else is cancelled, but I want her undivided attention, so being the last patient is probably a good idea.

Dr. B. is a kind, caring dentist.  I remember once when I went in for some dental work and she was injecting some novocaine and hit a nerve directly.  I scrunched down in the chair so far that I almost slid off the end!

She was so apologetic, and embarassed.  She said that she normally tried to get it close to a nerve, not in it!  Come to think of it, that was about the same area where the pain starts when I get these episodes.

I'll have to tell her that; she probably remembers me almost shooting off the foot of the dental chair!  I want her to remember all the times when I've had pain that the condition of my teeth shouldn't have caused.

Hopefully I'll feel like posting when I get home.  At least my roommate said she'd drive me there, so I don't have to worry about driving home if the pain gets really wild.

Thanks for being here.

Wish me well!

Kathy

[Quixotic1]

Pain is subjective.  You have to tell others about it.  I don't see the point of letting the pain become horrible so she will see you are in agony.  If she is empathetic she will believe you.

I think the discussion is the most important thing.  Although with my TN, the triggering was erratic.  It wouldn't always happen when I chewed with the trigger tooth.

Just my opinion.

Q

[Fluffysmom]

Thanks for your opinion; I do believe I concur!  I decided the "making my pain worse" idea sounded entirely too masochisitic!

I tried eating some cereal on the left side of my mouth, and it didn't hurt too much.  I figure it's like when you take the car in, and it doesn't make that funny noise any more.

My "trigger tooth" became the five from my back molar to my canine, though it did originally seem to be just one tooth. Even a couple of teeth on the lower jaw started burning/aching, so I suppose if it's TN, its really atypical, or getting more irritated.

The 5th cranial nerve is also responsible for motor function of the muscles of mastication, is it not? Does that mean that chewing in itself can cause pain, and if so, would that be in just the upper or lower jaw, or could it cause a TMJ kind of pain thing affecting both?

I'm sure that my dentist has said in the past that I don't have TMJ issues.

I just ate some chocolate to test my "sugar sensitivity", passed with flying colors, no pain. tee hee!

It's all so confusing.

The more I read about TN, the more I hope I need a filling replaced or to have one last root canal.  I think there's only one tooth up there that hasn't had one.

Kathy

[Fluffysmom]

I decided to post about my dentist's visit on another thread, so this doesn't get long and messy.

Kat