u/Gabbetha

Hi pals! I was so happy to stumble upon this subreddit in my quest for answers - this past week has been one of the most painful of my life, and through the help of an ER doc and my dentist, I think I might be in the right place. :)

When I was younger I was your resident tooth grinder, and now as a grown and anxious adult (currently being controlled by an SSRI, yay), I am definitely prone to clenching. Sometime last week, upon drinking some cold water, it felt light a lightning bolt hit my back left upper molar. Over the next day or so, the pain spread to both my top and bottom teeth, leading me to urgent care. They thought sinus infection, left with a prescription for amoxicillin.

Over the next few days, the pain just kept getting worse until it took up most of my left cheek and jaw. At the worst points, I could feel pain in my ear canal - it was some of the worst pain I have ever felt. Eventually it got so bad that I went to the ER, where a lovely doctor checked me over. He did not think that I had a sinus infection, or an ear infection, or a tooth infection (he pressed on my gums and teeth and looked around with a light). His theory was that something was irritating either my trigeminal nerve or parotid gland. Left with a prescription for naproxen (stronger Aleve) as plan A, and prednisone (steroid) as plan B.

After I left the ER, I headed to my dentist's office, who took panoramic x-rays and some close up. She did not see anything concerning on my x-rays, though she did note that there seemed to be some inflammation of my peridontal ligaments (?). She agreed with the ER doc's treatment plan and is having a bite guard made for me, as she thinks that bruxism is potentially the culprit here.

I am now on day 2.5 of taking the naproxen and I am feeling about 70% better. The searing pain in my face is gone, now it only seems to be coming from that back upper left molar. It is suuuuuper sensitive to hot/cold/sweet, but only hurts a little bit when biting down on something hard (I literally just tried this with my chapstick tube lol). My question is, has anyone ever dealt with anything like this, and if so, how did you get your pain under control? It's wild to me that my dentist didn't see anything concerning, it seems like there should be something obvious wrong with the amount of nerve pain I've had. Any thoughts you have would be appreciated!

tl;dr: dealing with some pretty gnarly nerve pain and received a potential bruxism diagnosis. dentist has taken x-rays and does not see anything concerning, but still dealing with intense tooth sensitivity while eating/drinking. currently taking naproxen for pain, wondering if anyone has dealt with something like this before?

Hi pals! I am going to attempt to condense my tale of woe as much as I can, but I can say with some amount of certainty that I have been in more pain this week than maybe ever? Super fun.

About a week ago, I woke up feeling like maybe I clenched my teeth a little too hard in my sleep (ya girl is anxious and a former teeth-grinder). A little pain, not too bad.

Then on Wednesday of this past week, I woke up and the lower left quadrant of my face, from ear to nose to jaw, felt like an Infinity-gloved Thanos was crushing it. Lots of pain. Went to urgent care, they thought: sinus infection. Left with a prescription for amoxicillin. Yay.

Went to work Thursday, did okay till the end of the day when the crushing came back, worse than the day before. Left work in tears, came home and downed 4 ibuprofen. It was then that I made the discovery that one of the only things that helped was holding room temp water in my mouth. Got a little better.

Friday (yesterday), woke up feeling okay. Had breakfast (to take amoxicillin), and things went very downhill from there. Ended up in the ER with SCREAMING pain, so bad I couldn't see straight. Lovely ER doc checked me out, did not believe it was a sinus infection, ear infection, or tooth infection. His theory: trigeminal nerve inflammation or parotid gland inflammation. Left with prescriptions for Naproxen as plan A, and prednisone as plan B.

Went to my dentist after leaving the ER. They took panoramic and up-close xrays and confirmed no cavities, no root/pulp issues, no anything. The only thing they noted was that my periodontal ligaments seem to be inflamed. My dentist agreed with ER doc's treatment plan, and is having a bite guard made for me. She is leaning towards bruxism as a likely diagnosis.

I am now on my second dose of naproxen and feeling 75% better. It's weird, what was once diffuse pain has now settled pretty firmly in my upper left molar - I can feel my heartbeat there if I get my heartrate up! My trick with holding water in my mouth now has the opposite effect, causing discomfort instead of relief. This was way more wordy than I wanted it to be, but I wanted to get y'alls opinion: could all of this really have started from clenching my jaw?? 😖