Tooth ligament and tongue pain.

Kat, this is sure a mystery, having this shifting pain in your mouth. Particularly the sharp pain along your tongue. That sounds more like an irritation of the nerve. Have you thought about seeing a neurologist?

Having teeth that don’t properly occlude when biting can definitely create long term problems such as jaw pain or individual teeth having intense pain. Humans have a biting power of about 162 pounds per square inch. That’s a lot of pressure which is usually divided equally over both arches as teeth come together. If you have a tooth out of position and it’s bearing the brunt of that pressure, it’s jarring to the tooth, nerve tissue and bone supporting the tooth.

You’ve probably done this a million times, but try an experiment right now. Standing or sitting, with your lips closed, jaw relaxed and slack, not clenched. Very lowly bring your teeth together until they naturally stop. You should be able to feel all the teeth interlocking into place and touching relatively equally. Do any teeth feel like they have high points that are hitting first?

When the dentist checks your bite with the articulating paper, are you sitting upright in the chair?

I will add that it does get worse with chewing, basic mouth movement and talking. When I am not using my mouth at all, it calms way down and the pain sometimes goes away.

Kat, you shouldn’t have to struggle to get your teeth to mesh together evenly. I’d like you to try the bite test again, but this time don’t clench. Just gently close until the first tooth or cusp touches somewhere with teeth on the opposite arch. Note that tooth or point of contact. Then try to fully close, don’t clench) and note any tooth or point that touches next. The goal is to determine if the bite is evenly distributed.
I’m also suspect of your misaligned teeth and hard bite. Might be making nerves hypersensitive. I like your idea of reaching out to the U of M to their dental dept if they have one, neurology or both.

Sounds like a nerve….or infection affecting a nerve. After I had my root canal I finally just had the tooth pulled. So with root canal my tissues did not look normal but did not show up on Ct. I did need the root canal specialist said. I ended up getting the tooth pulled and had tooth material sent off for biopsy and report came back I had 12 different kinds of bacteria a couple pretty serious. Took antibiotics. Those were things I did to try to figure out the burning pain and there were problems there but not what was causing my hot burning. Read…read…and read some more. I also believe in power of prayer to be led to doctors and dentist to help you. What medications do you take? Sometimes medications can cause pain. Gabapentin and pregabalin did that to me.

Hello!
I don’t take any medications, don’t drink or smoke either. I would guess that either there is an infection or crack, but it happens to so many different teeth, I get an adjustment, then it feels 100% better, but another area will start to hurt.
I like the idea of a CT scan. I’m actually thinking about going to U Of M for some help.

It’s sounding a lot like my bite, and boy isn’t it amazing how much pain it can cause?
I am actually scheduled for an orthodontist appointment on February 12. I’ve already had 2 prior appointments with scans and X-rays, so this one is for me to actually speak to the Dr. and it’s a high probability that he will be putting braces on me that day. I want to have a thorough discussion with him before I make the commitment.
I think I will also look into a neurologist to see if they can do anything for the hypersensitivity. You have helped me tremendously and I thank you SO much!!! I feel as God sent you to help me. 😌

Hi, Kat. I really hope you can find some relief!
I’m getting the sense from our conversations that you have a bit of an open bite if you’re having to struggle to get your teeth to meet, along with some other issues.

If this the case, the orthodontist should be able to bring your teeth into alignment and preferred occlusion to balance your bite. Since everything else seems to have failed in bringing relief, this may be exactly what you need. The consultation information will be valuable. The dental office where I worked also did orthodontia so I have experience in that field as well. If you have questions let me know.

I found a few orthodontic websites that have lists of questions you might want to ask at your appointment. (I do not know these orthodontists but the info they share on their sites might be helpful for you to get ideas of questions to ask)
https://prosmilesortho.com/braces-consultation/
https://magic-smiles.com/blog/the-top-7-questions-to-ask-during-your-orthodontic-consultation/
Good luck and keep in touch, ok?