Nerve root infection possible cause of TN?

General General TN & GPN (Old Site)
1

My wife was just at the dentist because she found a painful lump growing on the side of her molar in her lower jaw on the same side she has TN (TN was diagnosed about a year and a half ago). The dentist told her she has a nerve death infection.

I have two questions.

1-is it possible this nerve death started a year and a half ago and went unnoticed for that long? She doesnt have pain when chewing on the tooth oddly enough.

2-could this infection in her lower jaw be the cause of her TN?

2

Hi Steve,

A dead tooth doesn't necessarily hurt, or it may hurt just a little bit from time to time, or it may "just" be sensitive to cold/heat. So to answer question no. 1, yes, it's possible - people sometimes don't notice something's seriously wrong with the tooth unless the pain gets bad.

To answer no. 2, infection of teeth/jaw bone can be cause of TN (or maybe rather ATN?), my neuro believes that's what caused my neurological problems. I must say though I got many "warnings" before the pain from infected tooth/jaw developed into my current pain (which my neuro calls residual ATN but is not sure of the diagnosis). Hope this helps.

Regards,

Oldriska

3

thanks for the reply Oldriska!


Well now my wife is faced with two options. Root canal or tooth extraction, both of which I have read can be the cause of the onset of tn. Since she already has TN pain (possibly from this infection) which would be a better option?

4

That's a tough one Steve - people on this site have reported to have problems with either treatment. I hope someone more knowledgable than me will answer your question soon, I'm sure they will. Also, there's a sub-group related to dental issues here on LwTN. You can check it out for possible answers to your questions, the link is as follows: http://www.livingwithtn.org/group/dental-problems-solutions

Take care,

Oldriska

5

I had infection in one of my teeth. Dentist gave me antibiotic to b taken for 7 days. I had the tooth extracted.
I have lost three teeth in line in lower jaw. He advised me tooth implant. I m just too frightened as that may start TN pain in my jaw. At present I have pain only in 2nd division of TN nerve. But the cause of my pain is trauma (injury caused to the base of skull.)