I do not believe that dental work caused my TN. I know it is viral. What I find interesting for myself is that after all my wisdom teeth were extracted I came down with shingles. After having my back molars pulled on my TN side I came down with shingles again. Both times I had very bad infections.
Jennifer G said:
I was 19 when I had all 4 of mine pulled out at once - same reasons.... They were impacted. It took me weeks to heal from that and my face was yellow and purple from all the bruising. Not even a year later I had my first bought of shingles. Twenty years later and possibly another shingles outbreak and here I am.
Jackie said:
Cleo, I had surgical wisdom teeth removal (all four) at age 24. I was not in pain but my dentist was concerned by my x-rays. They were badly impacted. I developed TN age 47-48, do you think there is still a connection?
Jennifer, I don't want to be contrary just for the sake of being contrary, but I'd bet long odds that the recurrence of your shingles had little or nothing nothing to do with the extraction of the wisdom teeth. I know of no consistently established cause and effect relationship between the two, in medical literature. Likewise, trigeminal pain that emerges at the same time as a Shingles recurrence isn't strictly "trigeminal neuralgia". It's Post Herpetic Neuralgia, and it is fairly common for it to go into years-long remissions a few weeks after the Shingles outbreak passes or is knocked down with anti-viral meds.
Red - I don’t feel you are being contrary at all. I like the different dialogue and have learned a lot on this site. I too doubt the extractions had anything to do with the shingles. It was more likely a coincidence, and something I was thinking about when reading thru this thread.
As for the PHN with shingles - we will see. I’am 2 months post shingles and still have occasional ear and eye pain, and after my neuro appt today another switch of meds. My neuro says def Trigeminal Neuralgia and my GP says Post Herpetic Trigeminal Neuralgia. Both say that viruses cause TN, but that is another thread.
Jennifer, there is a possibility that viruses cause TN. My father had shingles a few years ago and the doctor said that his immune system was weak , that enabled the virus to attack. He is strong and healthy now.
Cleo, this illustration is very clear. After the endo did a root canal procedure on my right molar, I felt the electric shock pain at my right cheek ( closer to the lower jaw than the cheek bone) after the numbness wore off. Looking at the illustration, it is between the lingual nerve and the inferior alveolar nerve, the junction being the epi centre. I do not know whether you understand what I am trying to explain . This pain has since disappear .
My teeth are pretty problematic and far from perfect!
I actually just had one pulled yesterday because although I know its probably not the cause of my TN it's been hurting for 10 years , I have had procedures and x-rays out the wazoo and still it always hurt, even while on Trileptal for my TN pain that tooth still hurt!!!! So now it's gone, don't know yet if it will change anything for my TN pain but I have a feeling it may be associated in someway. Still waiting on MRI to see if they can find the cause of my TN so I'm questionong a lot right now..... wondering if all the unecessary dental work on that tooth could have caused damage. It's all very frustrating isn't it....
I had my wisdom teeth removed 26 years ago and that's it besides yearly cleanings. I did go to my dentist when the pain first started in my teeth and practically begged him to remove some teeth but thankfully he didn't.
Hi Nancy, I like the attitude of your dentist. I am sure some of them obliged and removed teeth from their patients even though they suspected the pain was not due to dental. A few dentists here offered to remove my teeth, fortunately I disagreed. I feel no pain at all for almost a month now and my teeth are still there.
Cleo, No. After the 3 rd root canal, my pain was stll there. In fact the pain became worse . It was a nightmare. My pain was intensified and my gum seemed to be pulled tight. Whenever I started talking or eating , there was pain. My lower lip was extremely sensitive to touch and I could not wash my face. Brushing teeth was out of question. On top of all these, my lower cheek had the electric like of shooting pain occasionally . This started after the root canal procedure. This pain tortured me for almost a year before I was referred to pain specialist and was then diagnosed with TN.
