Is the pain I'm experiencing in my mouth related to a tooth or to my jaw?

[kmchavez94]

About three weeks ago, I went in to the dentist to have some cavities filled on the left side of my mouth. One tooth in particular was a little further back and I have a small mouth, so I really had to open my mouth wide. I could feel my jaw cramping up while she was working on my teeth. All in all, my mouth was probably open for a half hour or so.

After the numbness wore off, I noticed that I was having a radiating pain in my jaw. I assumed it was just from having the dental work done. When it didn't go away, I assumed it was coming from a tooth that had a temporary filling on it while I was waiting for a crown. I went back in and had the temp filling fixed, but the pain returned.

It would start on the side of my mouth, right in front of my ear and just radiate down into my lower jaw, up into my temple, into my ear, into my back teeth, even into my cheek. My jaw was clicking when I opened my mouth. The side of my face in front of the ear was tender when pressed on. Ibuprofen got rid of the pain almost immediately. At that time, there was no actual tooth pain. It felt like ALL my teeth were hurting.

The pain didn't go away. When I went back to the dentist to have the crown put on, I mentioned the jaw pain to her. She said that it happens and could have been from having my mouth open too wide or from the injection hitting a nerve. (I do remember an almost shock or jolt when she gave me one of the shots.) She prescribed a corticosteroid pack to be taken over a 6 day period.

Today is the last day of the pack and the pain came back with a vengeance this morning. I started pushing and prodding around like I normally do, and now I notice that my very back bottom tooth is sensitive to being pushed on. To my knowledge, it hasn't been this entire time! (I check my teeth, muscles, etc. each time the pain comes on.) The pain has even moved down into my neck and shoulder. At times, my neck will stiffen and almost feel like it's having a spasm. (My cheek feels like this sometimes too)

The steroid seemed to help, the pain was way more manageable. Ice seems to help, and sometimes heat. The ibuprofen helps almost right away. But I don't want to keep taking so much ibuprofen.

I'm afraid that if I call my dentist, she'll just schedule me for a root canal right away. I'm just looking for some advice/second opinions? Please help if you can. I don't sleep very much, I feel out of it a lot, and the pain makes it hard to do anything.

Thank you in advance.