What's wrong with my teeth?

Have you switched to Sensodyne to see if it helps at all?

I’ve been using Sensodyne for about six months now. Great stuff.

maybe TJM? a cranio- facial nerve that can cause a lot of pain.

@wildpotato Do you have receding gums?

Wisdom teeth? Crowding makes everything sensitive where you’d least expect.

@SpatzieLover I had to look that up. That might be it, I suppose. Although I don’t grind my teeth, I have been told that my front teeth meet too perfectly instead of overlapping like most. And since we all clench our jaws to a certain small extent at night, maybe the normal amount of clenching is too much for my teeth. My dentist said she may have me get a NightGuard; I bet this is why. The description of the symptoms of receding gums mostly match what I’m feeling, though not how quickly it came on. Wiki says it’s a gradual process, and this was anything but gradual. And I’m only 24! :(

@Beta_Orionis I had my wisdom teeth removed four years ago.

it sounds like ‘referred pain’ which your dentist probably told you. you need to see a neurologist, dental pain is fairly easy to isolate. They will probably do more test to see if you have a neuralgia of the nerves in that area, which are all connected.

@wildpotato I grit my teeth. The night guard works wonders. I suffer less migraines with them in at night, too

trigeminal neuralgia, that’s what I tryiing to think of, if you were my patient I’d be looking there

@Beta_Orionis has a good idea. My wisdom teeth were pushing forward into my other teeth instead of coming up like they should. I went to the dentist thinking I had a terrible cavity. I was having a lot of pain. I ended up being referred to an oral surgeon to have my wisdom teeth out.

hopefully they did a panoramic x-ray to rule out wisdoms and tumors yes?

@trailsillustrated Dear lord, brain tumor?! Yipe! And wisdoms? I already got four out – can there sometimes be more? I’m getting X-rayed Monday.

I’ve never heard of more than four! I’ll stop speculating. Let us know what the x-rays reveal (besides your skeleton…) !

@wildpotato No there aren’t more wisdom’s in there.

@Beta_Orionis No, I think that was a GA, about the wisdom teeth. Would be totally plausible if they weren’t already gone. Your last answer made me laugh; thank you so much. It helped :)

ha, no , rarely there are tumors in the bone or sinuses quit worrying till you get x-rayed!

Everything you describe sounds like a root canal is needed somewhere.

My teeth only hurt from hot when I need a root canal. Sweets means a cavity, or a leak in a filling. Cold is usually painful on cavities as well. Hot and pressure go for infected teeth, which require root canals. I’m thinking I may need a root canal soon, or I have a sinus infection because my cheek bone is killing me!
Have they put you on antibiotics? What sort of xrays have you had, very recently done, right?
I’m sorry you’re in so much pain. I had to have all my front teeth drilled on after my son was born, all filled with cavities..it was so painful! I used sensodyne for quite a while, and just started using it again :(

@wildpotato Is your nose stuffy? Do you have sinus infections often?

:B

@casheroo I brought up my fear that this means I will need like 10 root canals, but my dentist said probably not. That I might be feeling pain in many teeth because the pain bleeds over, and I would maybe need one. But I read, here on fluther actually, that tapping your teeth and feeling the pain flare means it’s root canal time…and they all ache when I tap. Have you experienced this as true, and have you ever had the pain radiate through many teeth?

@SpatzieLover I haven’t had a sinus infection since I was 13ish. My nose is often temporarily stuffy because I’m allergic to my furry friends. Zyrtec clears it up in a jiffy. I’m not stuffed up at the moment, nor have I been unusually so in the past week. Good thought though.

@wildpotato I actually did have pain radiating through multiple teeth. I had a root canal after my son was born, and it was the very last tooth on the bottom left side. But, i was convinced it was the second to last tooth. They do a test, and I completely forget what it was, but it’s like they put a pen on the tooth and test them to see which tooth needs the root canal, and of course they do an x-ray. The endodontist told me it was actually my last tooth, and he did the root canal and although the procedure was painful, I was pain free after the procedure and felt normal again! So, if you do indeed need a root canal, you’ll be relieved when you finally get the procedure.

@wildpotato My teeth have been incredibly sensitive a few times, including the pain flare upon tapping, but I’ve ignored it stubbornly each time, and it goes away completely. Maybe I just don’t understand teeth well?

stop worrying. it’s impossible to know until you are x-rayed. it could be a multitude of things. just wait until you are x-rayed, I thought that you wrote this having already had an x-ray survey. But I understand how scared you are, just try to sleep and not speculate about it till Monday or whenever your are getting your x-ray.

My teeth get incredibly sensitive periodically, but in my case it always turns out to be a sinus infection.

Oddly enough, teeth can hurt when there is something wrong in a completely different part of the body. For example, “pain around the teeth and the jaws can be symptoms of diseases of the heart (angina, heart attack), ears (such as inner or external ear infections), and sinuses (air passages of the cheek bones) such as sinusitis (infection of the sinus cavities)...and while rare, some chronic toothache like pains are caused by neuralgias and other nerve ailments.” Source

The source page has a chart to help you figure out what might be going on if it is indeed your teeth that are the problem.

Glad your going to the dentist on Monday. I am worried it might be resorbtion, with nerve damage.
Let us know.

Get dentures, best thing I ever did.

@Darwin , thanks for posting that link! I’m going for evaluation of 2 teeth, 1 w/an abscess; have had 1 root canal & sure don’t like the thought of any more. :-( That site has lots of great info.

@ccrow -I greatly sympathize. I’ve never had a root canal, but I have had two crowns put in, and my sister has had five root canals.

Hi everyone. The pain got so bad I decided to go for emergency dental work this morning. Turns out the last filling I got was either chipped or wasn’t sealed correctly to begin with, and was unfortunately also quite close to the nerve. So infection happened, and killed my tooth. It was weird watching him pull out bits of my nerve through the hole he drilled to get in there. Looks like tiny rhubarb.

The issue was so extremely compounded because of the way my teeth meet up promotes my natural nightly grinding, as I suspected. It just so happens that my primary contact point when bringing my teeth together is that one tooth that got infected. Apparently that’s why the pain was so overwhelming so quickly. I am gonna kill that orthodontist who not only misaligned my teeth as a kid, but also caused my enamel to weaken so I need fillings like the one that caused the infection no matter how much I floss.

@trailsillustrated You were absolutely right; this was something I needed to have gotten X-rayed much sooner than I did. I was holding out to see my dentist, but I realize now that I shouldn’t have gone so long with this pain no matter what.

@casheroo Is it important to go to an endodontist, or would my regular dentist likely be able to tackle things? The guy who saw me today said it’s a tooth that’s relatively easy to work on, so he said it was up to me whether to request a referral for the specialist or not.

@Darwin That link is great! Explains things I’ve always wondered about. Is it painful to have crowns put in? I’m going to need one before this is all over.

@Psychedelic_Zebra I heard that dentures are extremely annoying, no?

@all I really appreciate your help and concern. You’re a fluther of truly standup jellies! Now for some vicoden and 1966 Batman.

if it’s anything but the very front teeth (8and 9 or 24 and 25) go to an endodontist..the gp can start the rc, medicate it, give you some antibiotics and pain meds, but have the rc filed and filled by an endodontist, gp’s don’t have the necessary microscopes or do enough of them. Also , don’t consider dentures, that’s where your troubles begin….

@wildpotato Usually a dentist will tell you if you need a root canal, in my experience I always was referred to an endodontist…not because of insurance reasons, but usually an Endo wants the appointment to be for a specific reason and do the procedure right away. A dentist is capable of doing the tests for a root canal.
I’m seeing a dentist on Monday, and they have an in office endodontist, so if I need a root canal I’m totally getting it that day because my cheek bone is in so much pain and I don’t know why :(

@wildpotato – It isn’t painful to get crowns put in if your dentist applies the Novacain with a liberal hand and you are not allergic to it. However, it is a very noisy process and my dentist likes her patients actually be ever so slightly head down, so it was not fun and games.

I got a temporary crown, which promptly popped off while I was out of town and about to eat at a very nice restaurant, and then she put in the permanent crown. I have had no problems with the crowns since then.

I’ve got a couple of crowns & I think the part that bothered me the most was the smell… sort of a burned bone smell. Ick.

@ccrow Gross…I’ve never smelled burned bone but it sounds like one of those nasty Jelly Bellies they make! The smell of the whole dentists office turns my stomach and makes me feel a little woozy. I guess that’s why before I have to get anything more than a cavity filled the hygeneist calls me in a couple valium. I have a hard time getting numb and have been terrified of the dentist since I got my first filling at like 17 years old. It really bothers me too, because I am not a puss, but I guess my fear of the dentist makes me one!

I’m going for the second half of the root canal this morning.

@casheroo Did you get one yesterday? How did it go?

@wildpotato Yep, I went to the dentist but my teeth were perfectly fine! They believe I have a salivary gland stone, not much I can do about it…I keep getting issues with that part of my face, probably something to do with the pregnancy. It’s so painful and I just have to deal with it and suck on sour things.
Glad you went, root canals may suck but they make everything all better!

@wildpotato yikes!! Better late than never though!

@casheroo Oh, that sucks! I have salivary gland problems too; very not fun.

I finally see someone is having the same problem I have. One tooth hurts and then on the left side upper and lower start hurting. I have been spraying my mouth with Cerpecal*. what I don’t understand is when I stand up it stops hurting. I talk to dentist office and will call next week for appointment.

Is it possible you have a sinus infection?
That’s what happens when I have one.

it could be but it driving me crazy with the crazy pain.