TMJ pain 2 months after bad dentist filling
I had a routine filling a couple of months ago. The assistant told me the dentist takes a long time to do fillings and I didn’t think anything of it.
It seemed exceptionally painful when injected with numbing agent in the back of my jaw area near my ear. Then it took her about an hour to do the filling. When it was done I could tell it was way too high as it was the first point of contact when closing my mouth. This is in my left lower molar. They said sleep on it and come back if you don’t like the results.
It was clearly way too high and it felt very awkward so I went back the next day. The assistant ground down the filling until it felt like a good fit.
I had cold sensitivity in the area for a couple of days and general soreness near my ear but didn’t think anything of it. They said it’s normal. After a month or so I went back because the pain near my ear never went away and got worse. They said the bite looks normal and suggested I see a TMJ specialist.
Now I’m in debilitating pain. Can’t open my mouth wide, can’t chew on left side which is my chewing side. Extremely frustrated and unhappy that this seems like it might be a lifelong condition now. I’m considering legal action. I think this dentist was low quality and I didn’t know the risks associated with having my mouth hyper extended open for such a long time, or the bite alignment issues, or injection issues. This is all new to me. I’ve never had jaw pain before.
The waiting list to see a TMJ specialist is several months. So I’m just calling a couple of times a week to see if there are cancellations I can take.
I’ve just been following the advice of google and being gentle with my jaw and trying to just let it rest and chew soft foods on the other side of my mouth. I’ve been taking a good bit of ibuprofen too. So far it’s only gotten worse.
My bite and everything just feels weird now too. It’s hard to describe but my bite doesn’t feel natural at all anymore even though that dentist said everything looks fine with their paper biting stain test.
Other than following google instructions and waiting to see a specialist I’m not sure what to do. I think I’m mostly venting. This sucks a lot and has lowered my quality of life by a lot.