It just never ends

Posted by mrmacabre @mrmacabre, 2 days ago

I've been suffering from chronic pain in my hips, knees, lower spine, and my right elbow due to osteoarthritis for well over a decade now. I also have idiopathic poly neuropathy in my feet, and I'm taking 3600mg of gabapentin to help dull the pain in them. Due to this, I've been retired on permanent disability since July of 2015.
During the last couple of years I've also been having digestive issues, which my gastroenterologist couldn't resolve, even after 2 colonoscopies and an upper endoscopy over a year ago. This is more than enough for one person to have to deal with, but now something else has decided to add itself to the list.
At the age of 66, I've been lucky enough to have never been to a dentist, I've never needed to. My teeth aren't pearly white like society says they need to be, but I still have all of them, including all 4 wisdom teeth. However, this past Saturday I woke up with some pain in the left side of my lower jaw, which has steadily gotten worse. My molars on that side all look and feel okay, but the nerve pain that I'm suffering with is awful. Eating and drinking has become incredibly painful, and it got so bad yesterday afternoon that I had to go to our doctor's urgent care clinic. The doctor there examined me, but wasn't sure what's going on. It's not in my lymph nodes, and she said my teeth all looked fine. I've got some very painful swelling underneath my jaw line that feels like nerve pain. She said it could possibly be early signs of Trigeminal Neuralgia, which sounds like a whole lot of fun.
However, the pain was so intense later that evening that I had to wake up my wonderful wife and ask her to take me to the ER dept. at the local hospital, Skagit County Memorial. This happened around 10:30 after I couldn't deal with the pain in my lower jaw anymore.
We were seen almost immediately by an ER doctor who took a look at me and saw how bad the pain was, and ordered some Hydrocodone for me. He thinks it's more than likely a dental issue because of the symptoms even though he also thinks the molars on that side look fine. He recommended that I have a dental x-ray done to see what that might show. The problem is that I've never been to see a dentist in my entire life, so we needed to find a dental office that would see me. Luckily(?) there's a local practice that my wife has been to a few times for her teeth, and after calling them this morning, they told me that they are taking new patients and could help me. So I have an appointment at 5:30 today for an examine and x-rays, which they told me would be covered under my wife's dental insurance through her job. If it turns out that I'll need to have some major work done, we have no idea how we're going to pay for it, insurance doesn't cover much when it comes to procedures like a root canal or extraction. We're already struggling to just get by every month as it is. We're basically broke until my wife gets paid this Friday, and I get my SSDI deposit next week, where's the money going to come from? I will NOT ask our kids or my sister for help with this. I won't bankrupt or add any debt to members of my family, or ask to borrow money that we won't ever be able to pay back.
It just never 'frickn ends.

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@mrmacabre I suspect a wisdom tooth. That tooth extraction should be covered under your wife’s dental insurance too.

Please let us know how your dental visit went.

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mrmacabre, Hey There. I'm so sorry about this.

I have a thought. Trigeminal Nerve pain can be exacerbated by teeth grinding (bruxism). It can cause painful
teeth, painful jaw, nerve pain in the face and headaches. I have this and wear a mouth guard at night and it
helps tremendously. The dentist office did a mold of my teeth and made the mouth guard. I only have to
wear it on my top teeth.

Please ask your dentist to check your teeth and see if they look worn from grinding them in your sleep. If
you are doing this, more than likely you will not know that you are as it does not wake most people up.

Praying for you to get relief sir. Blessings & Prayers.....

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I would like to think that your wife's dentist would be willing to either: wait for payment until you get paid or be willing to accept payments over time. Many medical professionals have some sort of short term loans available for customers in financial need. It seems unlikely that any dental practice would withhold emergency dental service from anyone due to a financial hardship. I know how painful teeth problems can be.

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Thank you for your responses and well wishes, I appreciate it. So, I went to the dentist for the very first time in 66 years of living yesterday, and was actually surprised at what I learned. First off, I only have 3 of my wisdom teeth, the lower right one isn't there. My lower left wisdom tooth is fine, along with all of my teeth, but my gums are covering half of that tooth, and there's an infection in the gum. The doctor told me that the best course of action is to pull that tooth. Even if the antibiotics kill the infection, he says it'll just come back again. So I have an appointment next Friday morning at 8 am to have that tooth pulled, even though the tooth itself is fine. The doctor took some photos, as well as x rays of my mouth, and he couldn't believe that I'd never been to see a dentist before. He told me that my teeth look better than someone's in their 20's. I have no cavities, only a little bit of plaque on one tooth, and that my bone levels are perfect. He actually told me that I should be used as a test subject to find out why my teeth have never really given me any trouble. Definitely not what I was expecting.

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Profile picture for mrmacabre @mrmacabre

Thank you for your responses and well wishes, I appreciate it. So, I went to the dentist for the very first time in 66 years of living yesterday, and was actually surprised at what I learned. First off, I only have 3 of my wisdom teeth, the lower right one isn't there. My lower left wisdom tooth is fine, along with all of my teeth, but my gums are covering half of that tooth, and there's an infection in the gum. The doctor told me that the best course of action is to pull that tooth. Even if the antibiotics kill the infection, he says it'll just come back again. So I have an appointment next Friday morning at 8 am to have that tooth pulled, even though the tooth itself is fine. The doctor took some photos, as well as x rays of my mouth, and he couldn't believe that I'd never been to see a dentist before. He told me that my teeth look better than someone's in their 20's. I have no cavities, only a little bit of plaque on one tooth, and that my bone levels are perfect. He actually told me that I should be used as a test subject to find out why my teeth have never really given me any trouble. Definitely not what I was expecting.

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@mrmacabre

Lucky you to have such good teeth. Like you, I awoke in the night to severe pain in my mouth where I had a dental bridge. I saw an oral surgeon and had two teeth pulled. Under my gums the dentist found a cyst so I know that I made the right decision to have extraction rather than root canal. I also had to have bone graft and now am healing and awaiting the next process-dental implants. Dentists are alot better in treating mouth pain than from years ago. Good luck to you and your pearly whites!!

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After reading this twice, i agree with the person who wrote of Trigeminal Neuralgia.
My Mum had it for 18 months. No one could figure it out, she eventually self diagnosed via the internet. When she got to a Specialist he agreed and said she was only the 2nd person in his career he had seen with it.
It took several physc meds to find relief but eventually she was put on Olanzapine, which is a heavy duty physc med. But it worked and within about 9 months her symptoms resolved mostly.
I now have severe nerve pain everywhere, result of SCS, now removed and my pain Dr is urging Zyphraxa ( Olanzaphine in the U.S.A.) . I have resisted due contraindications with Percocet but Pls check out this diagnosis before spending thousands. Sudden onset dental issues don't add up imho, but new, increased nerve pain does. Gd luck! PS you have wonderful teeth...!!!!

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Root canals done in the past ( one was never right since it was done ) are creating issues, the only solution I have been given are to have them out, ( a) I dont have many teeth left on the bottom, and (b) they are both front teeth. I already have tmj ( jaw issues ) I call it face ache, it doesnt let up doc doesnt want me to use anti inflammatories as they are bad for the stomach. ( if the illness dont get you the treatment will. that is just a part of the other issues I have.

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