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My face hurts

The right side upper portion of my face hurts terribly when I brush my teeth, smile, yawn, laugh, walk fast, run, almost anything I do that effects the resting position of the skin. The pain is so bad that sometimes when I am talking, I have to stop and let the pain go away before I continue. Sleeping is another issue all together. The pain actually wakes me up. I have had root canals on that side of my face and my dentist tells me that there is no infection visible on the xrays. The pain started when I had an abscessed tooth and went away for months after the root canal. Now it's back and I have no clue why or what to do about it. HELP! Thanks.
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547368 tn?1440541785
Thanks for the update Patrick. I am glad to hear about the resolution of your chronic pain. I too hope this is a thing of the past and will not return.

Best of Luck
~Tuck
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Avatar universal
Here is an update on my trigeminal neuralgia.  After being on pain medicine for about 4 months and getting the dosage just right, I was able to control most of the pain consistently.  Then I got the notion to loose some weight and get my body in better shape.  I am 5’ 10” and was about 215 lbs.  Now I am 190 lbs and work out about 3 times a week.  Best of all, trigeminal neuralgia went completely away after about 10 lbs weight loss.  I don’t know if it’s gone for good but this is very nice.  Just thought I’d let you know.
Patrick
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547368 tn?1440541785
Hell Again Patrick,

When I initially read your post I thought of Trigeminal neuralgia (TN). I thought it was too coincidental to have the same condition posted almost back to back. Hoogy just posted a day or so ago on this forum with the same symptoms and diagnosis. You may want to check that thread and or share notes with Hoogy.

TN is a chronic pain condition that affects the trigeminal or 5th cranial nerve, one of the largest nerves in the head.  The disorder causes extreme, sporadic, sudden burning or shock-like face pain that lasts anywhere from a few seconds to as long as 2 minutes per episode.  These attacks can occur in quick succession. The intensity of pain can be physically and mentally incapacitating.

I am so sorry that you have this condition. There are treatments for it. You may want to google the Mayo Clinic's site as they offer good information on different types of treatments.

Good luck to you. I hope you are able to find some relief through medications and treatments. Please let us know how you are doing. Take Care, Tuck

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Avatar universal
I'm sorry, the correct name of the condition is Trigeminal Neuralgia.  (Darn medicine).

Patrick, tatersalad.
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Avatar universal
Well, my PCP has diagnosed my condition as Trigeminal Myalgia.  Something to do with a nerve in the base of my skull that effects the face nerves.  I will be taking a medication called Gabapentin (300mg) 3xdaily that is designed to control the activity of the nerve causing the problem.  This med makes me a little woozy or tired which may get better the longer I'm on it.  Unfortunately, the doctor said that I will be on this med for life.  He may be able to back off the dose if the nerve reacts well to the treatment.  Thanks for talking with me about this problem.  You know, it really helps.

Patrick, tatersalad.  
Helpful - 0
547368 tn?1440541785
Patrick,

We will look forward to your update. I'm glad we were able to be of some assistance and hopeful that you can discover just what is causing you all this pain. It very well could be nerve related also.

Take Care,
Tuck  
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Avatar universal
Thanks for the advice.  I will start with my PCP and see if there is a sinus infection or something else.  Then I may have to go to an endodontist (sorry if that's not spelled correctly) to see if the root canal was done properly.  This pain is getting worse so all of the effort will be well worth it.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Patrick, tatersalad.
Helpful - 0
535089 tn?1400673519
Hello Tatersalad and welcome to the Pain Forum:

This is interesting to me as I had a simular problem just about a month ago.

Approximately a year before the latest jaw pain, I had experienced a partial root canal. I say partial because I never went back to have the root canal completed. During this year, following the root canal I had been experiencing on and off pain. Usually the pain would disappear so I blew it off until a month ago when in fact I had been developing an infection over that period of time...a really bad infection. This last month, while sitting in the Dentist chair waiting for my second root canal..he took some x-rays to make sure that there wasn't something else going on that needed attention and to my suprise, the previous Dentist that started the original root canal wasn't very thorough and left some "microscopic nerves" in the jaw. Not only was the infection causing pain but the nerves that were missed had been exposed when I lost the temporary filling.

It is possible that when your Dentist preformed your root canal, he missed the "microscopic" nerves. My Dentist told me that this can happen and if your Dentist is not paying attention, it is quite possible to miss them. This can cause your delayed face pain. I would definitly have it checked out. You never know.

I hope this was helpful. Please take care and good luck with everything. Happy Holidays,
Mollyrae
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547368 tn?1440541785
Hello Tatersalad,

I am sorry you are hurting so much. Face pain as you describe can be very frustrating, especially when it is undiagnosed.

If your dentist is unable to correlate the pain with your root canal or infection(s) of your teeth it is time to look elsewhere. Sinus pain can cause face pain as you describe. Have you discussed this with your PCP? You could have a sinusitis. Sinusitis can be non-symptomatic other than the face pain.

You may need a CT (with contrast) of your sinuses. Make an appointment with your PCP and begin there. A CT with contrast will reveal any medical issues you may have in that area. So even if it is not your teeth or your sinuses the CT will be a great tool to diagnosis the pain.

Good luck to you. Please let us know how you are doing. I will look forward to your updates. Take Care, Tuck  
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