Mouth pain over a year, no help or end in sight

Is your tongue white? As soon as I mentioned the white tongue my dentist knew what it was because his wife was diagnosed with it Sojgrens disease, dry mouth , eyes, nose, joints. My tongue has started burning since I stopped my medicine, not sure if related my lips sting, my ears turn red and itching and burning. Ent has never heard of burning ear syndrome so he’s checking into it.

My tongue is whitish but I've been checked for sojgrens. My tongue doesn't burn. There's jus a few teeth that feel sharp to my tongue, even if I rub the tip of tongue on them. Not the entire tooth is sharp either. Feels like not enough room in my mouth either. Especially on the right side, same side as sharp teeth. The one is a crown and it irritates my inner lip too. That area feels like it's rubbed raw. Could be both the irritating crown and wax I put on teeth to try to keep teeth from bothering my tongue and cheek so much. I feel like this will never get better and have my life back.

Sorry now that I’m more awake and just bit my cheek on the right side again yes I have sharp teeth I’m occasionally now more than before starting to but my cheek and tongue and sometimes lip. There is less room on my right side, that’ll be a question added to ask my dentist next time I see him

This in a way happened to me. I went with the sore tongue dry mouth head neck and shoulder pain for 2 yrs and saw a handful of specialists to no avail.. Can't find anything or it's your teeth was their answers. This last month I went to see oral surgeon for lesion biopsy in my mouth and he tells me I have Sjogrens Disease. Well low and behold I had just been doing some research on this condition and came to the conclusion myself that this is what I have as well! Please see a Rheumatologist. He is pro at these diseases and can help ease your pain. Plaquinell and Prednisone will make the symptoms almost bearable. Good luck!

Hello, I'm sorry that you're going through such discomfort. I believe what @celia16 was trying to refer to is Central Sensitization Syndrome (CSS), a hypersensitivity to non-noxious stimuli. I live with CSS and most of what I've read you describe, sounds like CSS. Weird Sensations that you would swear something is physically wrong yet no test, no doctor or specialist can physically see or prove what it is you feel.

I am confused by your teeth leaving scalloped marks, however. Can you please explain what scallop marks mean? Have you shown these scallop marks to your dentist or doctor? How do they explain the marks, if so?

Also, curious if you experience any other physical problems or chronic issues? (Whew, sorry for the gazillion questions!)

@cfreeman Holy moly, you have been through so much!
I can’t believe that a dentist can not see what areas of your teeth are giving you pain on your tongue.

Do you have an autoimmune disease? Many times my tongue, inside of my cheeks get sores because I have an autoimmune disease.
I have tried using a soothing mouthwash for sore mouth. It seem to help a bit.

No autoimmune disease. Since there's no cuts to my tongue or cheek the dentists says there's no issue. I can see on my tongue where the teeth irritate it because there's sometimes small red dots or little canker sore type looking bumps but not canker sores. I the crown they put on the top which is the second one and 3000 out of pocket the cusps feel rough to tongue and make it so sore I can't stand it much longer. Wax doesn't stay on the tooth. The bottom tooth that irritates tongue wax helps some which tge dentist thought was odd and not sure why it would help. But it helps because it covers whatever feels sharp to my tongue. I just want my life back to normal. Where I can get through the day with no mouth pain and enjoy life again. I have tried prescription mouthwashes, nerve pills, etc. Putting retainer in or wax helps a little but feels like not enough room for my tongue and the retainer doesn't fit well irritates after awhile and doing that all day is no life. I've had all kinds of bloodwork, mri, endoscopy, colonoscopy, everything. I really think is just a few of these teeth are worn and lack of room they rub my tongue but no one listens or sees it so nothing gets done. My family is tired of listening to me all day talk about the pain and wanting it fixed as it's been over 2 years. I thought maybe it would go away on its own but that isn't going to happen.

@cfreeman I was just remembering the issues I had years ago when I would have a new crown placed by the dentist. I told him that it was rough, too big, scrapping my tongue in cheek…I persisted until he made the necessary adjustments. He wasn’t convinced there was a problem. Nevertheless, I made sure the crown fit before leaving.
I’m not implying you didn’t do the same, I recognize the pain of dental work that may not be right.

I wish I could help.

Just want to make a quick note, that in the 60s and 70s I got great dental care. Slowly, over time, I have lost the ability to get that kind of care.

I have had many bad interactions with dentists and dental practices. And I have started to read articles about them plying "business" tactics...exaggerating the work needed. You know, to, well, make more money.

You can Google the articles.

So, while I used to have such respect for them, I no longer do. And I am not surprised that they miss some of the medical issues we face.

I think many of these folks, simply do not actually deeply review our case and help us find out what is going on. I mean re more complex problems. That they, in fact, just do a very quick review of our chart and go from there.

So, just a word of caution. If something does not sound right, don't discount your feelings and intuition. Do some deep research until you can confirm you are, indeed, getting the proper care for your issue.

I don't know, I live in Jersey. Things are generally pretty corrupt here. Maybe dentistry in the Mid-West and other areas of the country is just fine and dentists are honest and helpful. But around here? Many bad experiences.

One, quickly. Dentists walks into the room and proceeds to tell me about an extraction I need. Only problem? That extraction happened a full year before. He didn't even know the tooth was already gone! Not exaggerating.

As far as I understand, the only way that could have happened is him giving my chart a nano-second review...instead of a proper medical one, taking the necessary time to properly review medical issues.

And hardly the only serious gaff that office made. To the point, I just can't trust them anymore.

Commenting on the original post.

First off...switch dentists. Get a second opinion on everything. If you have big problems and big unresolved issues, get that second opinion.

And don't let the second dentist know what the original diagnosis was. Doctors tend to not like to second guess other doctors.

Everyone in the medical field is constantly terrorized by fear of lawsuits.

- I would investigate general health issues beyond dental. Maybe you are having a general issue with your immune system and dental is not the primary cause. And, frankly, seems to me while it could be dental, it could be something else entirely, including a few very serious issues. Those should be ruled out.

- I would certainly do some kind of detailed investigation into allergies. Who knows, you could be allergic to your mouthwash or something and constantly applying an allergen to your mouth.

- Check for environmental causes in your home and office. Rule out mold, radon, other chemicals.

- Switch to all scent free products in case you are developing an allergic response generally.

- Switch to natural cleaners. Ammonia and chlorine based cleaners are quite strong and people can react to them, especially if used in large quantities. The natural cleaners, like distilled white vinegar and the oxygen based products do a fine job for all but the most serious cleaning jobs. Really, we only need ammonia and chlorine based cleaners for a very small percentage of the problems that arise.

Check to see that your dishwasher is functioning properly and not returning dishes that are still dirty...and then, you are constantly exposing yourself to high bacteria levels. Various ways that could occur. You know, just leaving food out too long, things like that. Oh, maybe you make some homemade pickled beets or something and the seal on the jar is not good.

Make sure your fridge is delivering a proper temperature and that the food you are eating is, in fact, fresh and not at higher bacteria levels.

Here's one website about creating an internal environment in the home with less air pollutants:

- I would investigate gaps in the teeth and problem areas in the teeth that are catching food. Might want to use a water pic device to much more thoroughly clean the teeth. And get a professional mouthwash. The one they have me on is called PerioClear. Sometimes I found food that was caught in a gap in the tooth....for two weeks. I now have huge cavity in that gap and will probably lose the tooth. I went to regular check-ups all the time. Dentist should have caught that...and a few years ago.

Seems to me that there should be zero sharp teeth. That them constantly poking could cause constant inflammation and create a wide range of problems. Again, this would go to switching dentists. Maybe the one you have is simply cavalier and irresponsible. I can't see that good dental care would allow any sharp teeth to remain.

Well, that is what my brain has for now.

Very very sorry about the difficulties. I realize your post is from July 2023. Hopefully things have resolved by now.

Thought I would respond in case they haven't and in case other people are facing similar issues.