tooth and jaw problems (4 months and continuing)

[Guest guest]

Hello,I got a referral to this group regarding the problems I'm going through which I have outlined below: I am having pain in the upper left teeth and a little bit into the jaw and experiencing a lot of weakness and aching in my upper back. I am still pretty much homebound with the jaw pain and overall weakness. I have a constant pain level at about three or four on the scale of 10, and then if I try to go out to do some activity, the pain goes up to five or six.

History of present problem:

*had a crown placed on tooth #14 (upper left molar) in the fall of 2004

*experienced pain, and had to have a root canal on the same tooth in January 2005

tooth settled down after two or three days as usual after a root canal

*at the end of April, the tooth suddenly was painful again; however, I went ahead with my trip to Colorado to visit my mother who is in a nursing home; during the trip, the tooth was painful, but I also developed an infection in my left eyelid above the tooth & which also affected the maxillary area for which I was treated in Colorado with an antibiotic, Keflex for 10 days; however, on the trip home in the airplane, the infection progressed into my ear, so I was prescribed the antibiotic, Augmentin, for 10 days in order to clear the infection

*the endodontist redid the root canal in mid-May; however, the tooth did not settle down;

the endodontist had said that if I had any more problems that it was a medical problem rather than a dental problem, so I saw my doctor Kaiser who gave me a 15 day prescription of Augmentin and ordered a CT scan of my sinus area; the CT scan done a couple weeks later turned out to be negative

*in July, the pain along with occasional low-grade fever continued, so I asked the doctor for a prescription for Augmentin (10 days); at this time also, I started experiencing overall body weakness so that I could not participate in my stretching classes which occur four days per week (this weakness accompanied by aching in the middle back has persisted unabated, and I'm still unable to do the stretching classes)

*during the antibiotic treatment, I saw an oral surgeon for extraction of the root canal tooth, which occurred July 21 (my regular dentist had given me the choice of extraction or going back to the endodontist for a third root canal in the tooth)

* I saw the oral surgeon last Friday, and he said the healing is okay around the extraction site. However, I'm concerned about going further downhill in weakness, and I do not know what the next step might be to resolve this situation. One other tooth next to the extraction is also a little tender. It's also a root canal tooth.*I also got an MRI on the jaw area last Thursday to see if there's anything going on that is problematic like a tumor or some other thing. If they don't find anything, I guess it could be either another tooth or some sort of ongoing neuropathic problem. The doctor is also scheduling a bone scan for tomorrow.*last week the infectious disease doctor ran a lot of blood tests,and the sedimentation rate was not elevated which would show a bacterial infectionand I suppose inflammation problems.Also, the oral surgeon did not see any signs of infection at the site. Only the start of acanker sore.I got this from a friend with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis regarding my situation.

"These are the EXACT symptoms I had in my cheek bone for 15 years. Activity always made it worse. It's a viral infection in the bone. It may not show anything on the MRI, but you can be sure it's there.You need high-dose antivirals "I don't know if this is what is happening or not. Du PreWebsite: http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/soareagle/index.html"By words the mind is winged." Aristophanes

[Guest guest]

Take a look in Gray's anatomy at the Trigeminal nerve.

It runs doen the side of the cheek, (on each side) and splits with

one branch running over the top teeth (and stops just under the nose -

and the other branch runs along the bottom jaw and stops in the

middle of the chin.

I had trigeminal nerve pain on the top left side, whcih off and on

for years felt like there was something wrong with my top back teeth

(and I did have a root canal in there). My teeth ached.

This is not the same as TMJ.

Theres a blood vessel about half way down the cheek that gets very

very close to the nerve - and I think in my case - there was

inflammation in that area that pressed on the nerve.

Post antibiotic therapy, this pain retreated, and it's now been gone

for almost 2 years (and I had this pain intermittantly for over 15

years ..... so I'd like to see it be gone for 5 years, before I say

it's gone for good.)

Barb

> Hello,

> I got a referral to this group regarding the problems I'm going

through

> which I have outlined below:

> I am having pain in the upper left teeth and a

> little bit into the jaw and experiencing a lot of weakness and

aching in my

> upper back.

> I am still pretty much homebound with the jaw pain and overall

weakness.

> I have a

> constant pain level at about three or four on the scale of 10, and

then if I

> try to go

> out to do some activity, the pain goes up to five or six.

>

> History of present problem:

>

>

>

> *had a crown placed on tooth #14 (upper left molar) in the fall of

2004

>

>

>

> *experienced pain, and had to have a root canal on the same tooth

in January

> 2005

>

> tooth settled down after two or three days as usual after a root

canal

>

>

>

> *at the end of April, the tooth suddenly was painful again;

however, I went

> ahead with my

> trip to Colorado to visit my mother who is in a nursing home;

during the

> trip, the tooth

> was painful, but I also developed an infection in my left eyelid

above the

> tooth &

> which also affected the maxillary area for which I was treated in

Colorado

> with an

> antibiotic, Keflex for 10 days; however, on the trip home in the

airplane,

> the infection

> progressed into my ear, so I was prescribed the antibiotic,

Augmentin, for

> 10 days

> in order to clear the infection

>

>

>

> *the endodontist redid the root canal in mid-May; however, the

tooth did not

> settle down;

>

> the endodontist had said that if I had any more problems that it

was a

> medical problem

> rather than a dental problem, so I saw my doctor Kaiser who gave me

a 15 day

> prescription of Augmentin and ordered a CT scan of my sinus area;

the CT

> scan

> done a couple weeks later turned out to be negative

>

>

>

> *in July, the pain along with occasional low-grade fever continued,

so I

> asked the

> doctor for a prescription for Augmentin (10 days); at this time

also, I

> started

> experiencing overall body weakness so that I could not participate

in my

> stretching

> classes which occur four days per week (this weakness accompanied

by aching

> in

> the middle back has persisted unabated, and I'm still unable to do

the

> stretching classes)

>

>

>

> *during the antibiotic treatment, I saw an oral surgeon for

extraction of

> the root canal

> tooth, which occurred July 21 (my regular dentist had given me the

choice of

> extraction

> or going back to the endodontist for a third root canal in the

tooth)

>

>

>

> * I saw the oral surgeon last Friday, and he said the healing is

okay around

> the extraction

> site. However, I'm concerned about going further downhill in

weakness, and

> I do not

> know what the next step might be to resolve this situation. One

other tooth

> next to the

> extraction is also a little tender. It's also a root canal tooth.

>

> *I also got an MRI on the jaw area last Thursday to see if there's

anything

> going on that is

> problematic like a tumor or some other thing. If they don't find

anything,

> I guess it could be

> either another tooth or some sort of

> ongoing neuropathic problem. The doctor is also scheduling a bone

scan for

> tomorrow.

>

> *last week the infectious disease doctor ran a lot of blood tests,

> and the sedimentation rate was not elevated which would show a

bacterial

> infection

> and I suppose inflammation problems.

> Also, the oral surgeon did not see any signs of infection at the

site. Only

> the start of a

> canker sore.

>

> I got this from a friend with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis regarding

my

> situation.

>

> " These are the EXACT symptoms I had in my cheek bone for 15 years.

Activity

> always made it worse.

> It's a viral infection in the bone. It may not show anything on the

MRI, but

> you can be sure it's there.

> You need high-dose antivirals "

>

> I don't know if this is what is happening or not.

>

>

> Du Pre

> Website: http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/soareagle/index.html

> " By words the mind is winged. " Aristophanes

[Guest guest]

If you've got what many of us have got, it's a complicated illness

to treat. But your statement below could easily be in my bio, as

well as many others who have chronic, systemic, bacterial

infections, and specifically chronic osteomyelitis (bone infection)

of the jaw, that operates under the radar screen as far as standard

tests go.

*last week the infectious disease doctor ran a lot of blood tests,

and the sedimentation rate was not elevated which would show a

bacterial infection and I suppose inflammation problems.

Also, the oral surgeon did not see any signs of infection at the

site. Only the start of a canker sore.

I've never heard of viral infections in the bone, or anyone being

treated successfully with anti-virals. If the Augmentin is not

helping, you need your doc to give you some other abx. If he's not

going to do any further testing or culturing, then the least he can

do is a therapeutic probe. Your bugs could easily be resistant to

Augmentin. He should be willing to try you on different antibiotics,

or drugs more commonly used to deal with dental infections.

Unfortunately what works for me, may not be the drug for you. I've

used lots of antibiotics, both i.v. and pill form, with varying

results. I did really well with Cipro for a couple months (side

effect risks include tendon damage), moderately well with Ceftin

(lasted a few weeks), Ketek. Recently, Zithromax has been strong and

doing really great with Penicillin (no side effects and resistance

hasn't developed at all yet). LIke I said, you might need totally

different drugs. Clindamycin is often used in dental infections, but

doesn't usually last for long. If you could get your doc to at least

try a few differeent abx (surely he's been to medical school and

understands antibiotic resistant bugs?) and if you respond favorably

to some, at least you'd have a start. Then you've got a lot of work

cut out for you to try to cure the problem if it keeps recurring or

other symptoms develop.

Do some searching around the site here, and you'll see some pretty

recent posts in the past few weeks on the subject of dental

infections, chronic ostemyeltis etc. What I CAN guarantee you is

that dentists or surgeons who will admit a chronic problem are RARE,

RARE, RARE. It's a can of worms they don't want to deal with. You

need to find good docs who recognize and deal with infections and

then find a competent surgeon and use him just like you would a

mechanic, nothing more. Some tests proving necrosis or osteomyelitis

would help you get insurance coverage, if that's an issue. But this

is not a quick fix process, unfortunately. Are you generally healthy

otherwise? If you have zero other symptoms, and can get a doc

willing to rotate abx as needed (in decent amounts and duration)

then pulling those root canals COULD be your best recourse. But only

if you have few other symptoms of chronic illness. Root canals are

rarely an answer. A dental study from OSU posted here a while back

states that something like 40% of all root canals ARE infected.

penny

> Hello,

> I got a referral to this group regarding the problems I'm going

through

> which I have outlined below:

> I am having pain in the upper left teeth and a

> little bit into the jaw and experiencing a lot of weakness and

aching in my

> upper back.

> I am still pretty much homebound with the jaw pain and overall

weakness.

> I have a

> constant pain level at about three or four on the scale of 10, and

then if I

> try to go

> out to do some activity, the pain goes up to five or six.

>

> History of present problem:

>

>

>

> *had a crown placed on tooth #14 (upper left molar) in the fall of

2004

>

>

>

> *experienced pain, and had to have a root canal on the same tooth

in January

> 2005

>

> tooth settled down after two or three days as usual after a root

canal

>

>

>

> *at the end of April, the tooth suddenly was painful again;

however, I went

> ahead with my

> trip to Colorado to visit my mother who is in a nursing home;

during the

> trip, the tooth

> was painful, but I also developed an infection in my left eyelid

above the

> tooth &

> which also affected the maxillary area for which I was treated in

Colorado

> with an

> antibiotic, Keflex for 10 days; however, on the trip home in the

airplane,

> the infection

> progressed into my ear, so I was prescribed the antibiotic,

Augmentin, for

> 10 days

> in order to clear the infection

>

>

>

> *the endodontist redid the root canal in mid-May; however, the

tooth did not

> settle down;

>

> the endodontist had said that if I had any more problems that it

was a

> medical problem

> rather than a dental problem, so I saw my doctor Kaiser who gave

me a 15 day

> prescription of Augmentin and ordered a CT scan of my sinus area;

the CT

> scan

> done a couple weeks later turned out to be negative

>

>

>

> *in July, the pain along with occasional low-grade fever

continued, so I

> asked the

> doctor for a prescription for Augmentin (10 days); at this time

also, I

> started

> experiencing overall body weakness so that I could not participate

in my

> stretching

> classes which occur four days per week (this weakness accompanied

by aching

> in

> the middle back has persisted unabated, and I'm still unable to do

the

> stretching classes)

>

>

>

> *during the antibiotic treatment, I saw an oral surgeon for

extraction of

> the root canal

> tooth, which occurred July 21 (my regular dentist had given me the

choice of

> extraction

> or going back to the endodontist for a third root canal in the

tooth)

>

>

>

> * I saw the oral surgeon last Friday, and he said the healing is

okay around

> the extraction

> site. However, I'm concerned about going further downhill in

weakness, and

> I do not

> know what the next step might be to resolve this situation. One

other tooth

> next to the

> extraction is also a little tender. It's also a root canal tooth.

>

> *I also got an MRI on the jaw area last Thursday to see if there's

anything

> going on that is

> problematic like a tumor or some other thing. If they don't find

anything,

> I guess it could be

> either another tooth or some sort of

> ongoing neuropathic problem. The doctor is also scheduling a bone

scan for

> tomorrow.

>

> *last week the infectious disease doctor ran a lot of blood tests,

> and the sedimentation rate was not elevated which would show a

bacterial

> infection

> and I suppose inflammation problems.

> Also, the oral surgeon did not see any signs of infection at the

site. Only

> the start of a

> canker sore.

>

> I got this from a friend with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis regarding

my

> situation.

>

> " These are the EXACT symptoms I had in my cheek bone for 15 years.

Activity

> always made it worse.

> It's a viral infection in the bone. It may not show anything on

the MRI, but

> you can be sure it's there.

> You need high-dose antivirals "

>

> I don't know if this is what is happening or not.

>

>

> Du Pre

> Website: http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/soareagle/index.html

> " By words the mind is winged. " Aristophanes

[Guest guest]

Yes, and many dentists will insist that your condition is related to

nerve damage, and won't look at what is either damaging the nerve or

causing the inflammation, which is generally infection. The

NewCastle research team did a study on trigeminal nerve pain being

caused by staph infection. Staph A. is one of the main bugs that

infects bone.

penny

> > Hello,

> > I got a referral to this group regarding the problems I'm going

> through

> > which I have outlined below:

> > I am having pain in the upper left teeth and a

> > little bit into the jaw and experiencing a lot of weakness and

> aching in my

> > upper back.

> > I am still pretty much homebound with the jaw pain and overall

> weakness.

> > I have a

> > constant pain level at about three or four on the scale of 10,

and

> then if I

> > try to go

> > out to do some activity, the pain goes up to five or six.

> >

> > History of present problem:

> >

> >

> >

> > *had a crown placed on tooth #14 (upper left molar) in the fall

of

> 2004

> >

> >

> >

> > *experienced pain, and had to have a root canal on the same

tooth

> in January

> > 2005

> >

> > tooth settled down after two or three days as usual after a root

> canal

> >

> >

> >

> > *at the end of April, the tooth suddenly was painful again;

> however, I went

> > ahead with my

> > trip to Colorado to visit my mother who is in a nursing home;

> during the

> > trip, the tooth

> > was painful, but I also developed an infection in my left eyelid

> above the

> > tooth &

> > which also affected the maxillary area for which I was treated

in

> Colorado

> > with an

> > antibiotic, Keflex for 10 days; however, on the trip home in the

> airplane,

> > the infection

> > progressed into my ear, so I was prescribed the antibiotic,

> Augmentin, for

> > 10 days

> > in order to clear the infection

> >

> >

> >

> > *the endodontist redid the root canal in mid-May; however, the

> tooth did not

> > settle down;

> >

> > the endodontist had said that if I had any more problems that it

> was a

> > medical problem

> > rather than a dental problem, so I saw my doctor Kaiser who gave

me

> a 15 day

> > prescription of Augmentin and ordered a CT scan of my sinus

area;

> the CT

> > scan

> > done a couple weeks later turned out to be negative

> >

> >

> >

> > *in July, the pain along with occasional low-grade fever

continued,

> so I

> > asked the

> > doctor for a prescription for Augmentin (10 days); at this time

> also, I

> > started

> > experiencing overall body weakness so that I could not

participate

> in my

> > stretching

> > classes which occur four days per week (this weakness

accompanied

> by aching

> > in

> > the middle back has persisted unabated, and I'm still unable to

do

> the

> > stretching classes)

> >

> >

> >

> > *during the antibiotic treatment, I saw an oral surgeon for

> extraction of

> > the root canal

> > tooth, which occurred July 21 (my regular dentist had given me

the

> choice of

> > extraction

> > or going back to the endodontist for a third root canal in the

> tooth)

> >

> >

> >

> > * I saw the oral surgeon last Friday, and he said the healing is

> okay around

> > the extraction

> > site. However, I'm concerned about going further downhill in

> weakness, and

> > I do not

> > know what the next step might be to resolve this situation. One

> other tooth

> > next to the

> > extraction is also a little tender. It's also a root canal

tooth.

> >

> > *I also got an MRI on the jaw area last Thursday to see if

there's

> anything

> > going on that is

> > problematic like a tumor or some other thing. If they don't

find

> anything,

> > I guess it could be

> > either another tooth or some sort of

> > ongoing neuropathic problem. The doctor is also scheduling a

bone

> scan for

> > tomorrow.

> >

> > *last week the infectious disease doctor ran a lot of blood

tests,

> > and the sedimentation rate was not elevated which would show a

> bacterial

> > infection

> > and I suppose inflammation problems.

> > Also, the oral surgeon did not see any signs of infection at the

> site. Only

> > the start of a

> > canker sore.

> >

> > I got this from a friend with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

regarding

> my

> > situation.

> >

> > " These are the EXACT symptoms I had in my cheek bone for 15

years.

> Activity

> > always made it worse.

> > It's a viral infection in the bone. It may not show anything on

the

> MRI, but

> > you can be sure it's there.

> > You need high-dose antivirals "

> >

> > I don't know if this is what is happening or not.

> >

> >

> > Du Pre

> > Website: http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/soareagle/index.html

> > " By words the mind is winged. " Aristophanes