Hello. I'm new here so I apologize is this topic has already been discussed. I searched and didn't see it.
My mom has been battling Sjogrens for years. The dry mouth has caused her teeth to crumble, even with perfect hygiene practices. Her dentist says they need to ALL come out!! And he wants to take all the upper teeth out at ONCE! And leave the bottom ones for later.
I am SO concerned about this...
She also battles TN, and the medicine works but it still pokes through every once in a while. Can Sjogrens patients have oral surgery... to such a great extent... with TN? Will it help the TN improve?
How will she ever heal from such a thing?
How will dentures or implants even work without saliva?
Has anyone ever undergone extraction and had implants or dentures with trigeminal neuralgia?
It's so hard when the rheumatologist doesn't communicate with the dentist, and the PCP doesn't collaborate with the rheumatologist...
Having oral surgery like that is so BIG, and interrelated, and I'm unsure about what the implications are.
Thanks for giving me any idea about your experience, or any lessons and tips from someone who has gone before. They are greatly appreciated.
Hopefully someone with more experience than myself will come along but I would never have all my teeth removed at the same time and I will NEVER allow a dentist to do the extraction. Unfortunately I have had to have a few extractions since being diagnosed with tn2 and I go to the best oral surgeon in town who is familiar with tn.
Also, please do a search for implants. From what I have read on here I personally do not want implants and when enough of my teeth are gone I will like go the way of dentures. For now, I have just left the gaps. Thankfully, mine are back teeth and do not affect my smile much.
There are things your mom can do to help the extractions and after effects go more smoothly. I never go if I am in pain that day, also I take an extra dose of my gabapentin before the extraction. The key, iirc, is not to feel pain. It is worse for us.
Re: will this help the TN improve? No, I don't think it would help at all. If her teeth are hurting her it might help that pain. You are a wonderful daughter for helping and caring so much about your mom.
I truly feel that this is serious enough to ask Red Lawhern about. I always take the greatest care with dental procedures. I even have fillings with an injection. But total upper removal with some anaesthesia would be too hard. All the best with this.
I really appreciate this feedback, everyone, this is exactly what i need to know. I love my mom so much. she's actually my mother in law but she's still my mom. she's so strong and inspiring. Her condition (the sjogrens) puts her in a very hard position... her teeth are beginning to break off (not good) so i understand why he wants to extract them all before they become more problematic. But she's already so weak with the difficulty eating. I'm in agreement, we need a REALLY good oral surgeon. Everyone, please continue to share. I've never heard of Red Lawhern, thank you for the heads up. And if you know any docs in Virginia (The valley) or Southwest Florida (where we may be relocating)... let me know!
Red Lawhern is one of our moderators. He usually keeps an eye on the threads but you could send him a personal message by clicking at the top of the page where it says members + mods. Red has been around a long time and has spoken with thousands of tn sufferers over the years so he usually has wonderful insights.
Have you checked out the Sjoren's group yet? The link is in a column to the right of this page. The other groups seem to be much slower, not as much activity as the TN group but it often is interesting to read over old posts as well.
Oh wow, okay. I did post on Sjogrens today and got some great feedback from the moderators there about Sjogrens. They also directed me here to talk about the TN! And ya'll are quick!