I’m from Toronto Canada and have been dealing with chronic, front tooth pain for 2.5 years following a surgery to clean an infection from an old root canal (25 years prior due to baseball injury). This nerve pain was immediate following that surgery and has been treated with Gabapentin and nortriptyline ever since. I’ve had long stretches with little to no pain but in Jan 2020 i bit down on something and have had a hard time controlling the pain since then. The pain isn’t sharp or electric like I’ve heard some of you described, mine is more of a dull ache right above the tooth, similar to what an infection feels like. I have decent pain management through the night and as long as i take my meds immediately when i wake up, i’m good until about 1 pm then the pain starts and lasts until bed. I find i’m just upping my Gabapentin to get through my work day and I feel like this is not sustainable. My last neurologist said there was nothing more he could do for me, just keep taking my medication. I’ve had MRI’s and CT scans all have come back clear. I was convinced the apicectomy had failed and it was a bad tooth, but after reading on this site I am beginning to agree with my doctors that this is nerve related.
I recently got into see an Oral Pain Specialist and she has tried me on at least 10 meds (all the typical ones for TN) plus strong antibiotics and nothing seems to work. They all make my pain worse rather than better. I have an appointment to see a specialist at the Mount Sinai Pain Clinic in January for a likely nerve block and potential botox treatment. I have asked about non-typical treatment approaches like stem cell tx or steroid injections and nobody seems to know any studies on this. I am at a point that this is greatly impacting my quality of like and will travel to any part of the world to have some long term relief. I can’t take the side effects of my current meds (weight gain, blurred vision, terrible dry mouth/bad breath, memory loss, trouble concentrating, the list is endless), plus half my day i’m still in pain despite taking these meds. I’m also concerned about the long-term effects of gabapentin and nortriptyline on my memory and kidneys. Not sure if anyone on here has any suggestions for something I have not tried. Maybe a good doctor recommendation? Willing to explore anything at this point. 10 months of daily pain is starting to wear on me. But i refuse to give up because I have two amazing little kids that need me so I will continue on! Thanks for listening.
It’s been explained that I likely had a nerve injured during my tooth surgery and it formed a small neuroma (locally) and never fully healed. I will certainly bring this up at my next specialist appt. to see what treatment options i have.