As many of you know, I started using the lidocaine patch about two years ago with great success in cutting flares of ATN. I am a huge fan of the lidocaine patch! After last week I’m even a bigger fan!
Last week I had to have an old filling replaced with a crown on the ATN side – we all know that’s just a nightmare waiting to happen, right? I wore a huge strip of lidocaine patch on my cheek before-during-after the entire process and I have not gone into an ATN flare!
Now, it’s been dicey and it’s been uncomfortable off and on for a week but I keep using the patch and supplementing with hydrocodone here and there. I have not had a flare! I had a crown done and a small cavity filled on the other side! NO FLARE!
I had to share this and once again I can’t say enough about the lidocaine patch.
Thanks so much for the information, Azurelle. Very helpful. Incidentally, I’m wondering–did you have the local anaesthetic injections that day? And if so, did they do anything special/different to try to avoid the trigeminal nerve? A neurologist told me last week that if I have to have dental work done (which I invariably will), I can try asking the dentist to get a CT scan so they can see where the nerve is. (Somehow that seems like a slim chance here in Canada.)
To have the crown put on I opted to not be numbed, it was just removing the temp and putting on the perm one. It’s on the ATN side and there were a few jolts but nothing too terrible. With ATN I don’t numb well and I numb oddly, random parts of my face go numb rather than the location desired. On the other side where I had the filling I did have injections, it took double the amount to get me numb and my nose went completely numb! Basically the nerves in my head are all screwy in general and have been my whole life.
I have never had a CT scan before dental work. Dental work shouldn’t come close the nerve, really. Extraction is when the nerve might become involved and I’ve only had one tooth pulled my whole life and it was in a abscess so it practically fell out of my mouth anyway. I’m in America and I can’t think of one dental office that would have access to a CT scan. Actually, I tend to doubt a general dentist could even read a CT scan so I’m not sure what that neuro was talking about, I doubt dental training is really that different between America and Canada. I would say if you get into a having teeth pulled you may need to explore going to a specialist at that point but for general dental work and fillings I’m thinking you don’t really need to worry about it (keeping in mind I’m not a doctor or dentist).
More and more dentists and endodontists are actually installing high-resolution CT scanners. They also must be skilled at reading the scans. It is a great option before things like oral surgery or dental implants, so if you are considering that type of work I would look for that option. But for things like fillings and crowns and other typical dental work I believe it is really overkill. A good dentist will not go anywhere near the nerve with novocaine, will take it slow, and let the anesthetic diffuse into the tissue near the nerve. Be sure and discuss the issues with your dentist ahead of time, and make sure you have the most skilled person do anesthetic injections.
Do you need a prescription for the patch and is there a certain strength. Exactly where do you apply it? I would also like to know if you or anyone on this site knows anything about the spenopalatine ganglion block. It was recommended by a pain doctor but I have never seen anyone mention it.
No, I don’t know anything about the sphenopalatine nerve block. Luckily I respond very, very strongly to medications so I haven’t had to look into blocks or surgical options. Now, at the upper right hand corner of the page there’s a maginfying glass, which is a search via all the conversations that have been posted here. You can try searching there for info from people in the community. And, of course, I’m a big fan of google!
I haven’t noticed any specific numbing on the surface/skin but for me it definitely settles the nerve down. I have ATN and whenever I even think it feels funny I put a patch on. It’s been a miracle for me, it’s cut the burning flare to almost zero.
As for the roof of your mouth… mmmmmm… the only thing I can think is for you to look at a diagram of the TN branches, decide which one is firing the roof of your mouth, and put a patch along that branch.
People have also talked about having good success with peppermint oil. Maybe try rubbing that in? Or holding a peppermint against the roof of your mouth with your tongue as you suck on it? Clove oil works for dental pain, not sure about the roof of your mouth.