Just thought I'd add my experience in case anyone is experiencing similar pain. I had sharp shooting pain in one lower molar and thought I must need a root canal. The dentist said there was nothing in the xray to indicate a root canal was needed but I insisted........what else could it be, right? After the root canal, the pain was still there so I started research on the internet and discovered TN.
Went to a neurologist who confirmed and put me on Tegretol. That worked for 9 months, then the pain started up again. I increased the dosage of Tegretol until I became a zombie and then flew to Erie to consult with Dr. Sekula. I was all ready to get an MVD, but he said very very few people have the pain only in one tooth. The typical pain is all across the face and is triggered by touch. Mine is not triggered by touch, but by eating. He said I was not a good candidate for the operation. In his experience, those who have pain that is only in the teeth are not helped by MVD.
He did say to never ever get gamma ray.......a heads up for anyone considering it. The long term effectiveness of that is very dim and it fries the nerve which is bad news. Gamma ray seems to be the popular thing in my area of the country (Texas) and my neurologist was pushing me to get one. Also, my neurologist here told me I could get on Trileptal, but I would have to completely stop the Tegretol before switching. That really scared me. Dr. Sekula explained how to taper down the Tegretol while introducing Trileptal. I'm now on 900 mg. Trileptal and just a few twinges now and then.......so I'm good for now. No zombie symptoms on Trileptal.
Anyone with TN pain in the teeth please contact me.........I sure would like to compare notes.
Keep a fire extinguisher beside you. You're computer may burst into flames. There are so many dental stories in the Living with TN crew.
I lost 3 or 4 teeth due to misdiagnosis. i went to the dentist with pain. X-ray showed dark spot along the bottom of the crown. Tooth yanked. Pain continued. Somewhere on our site (sorry I can't be more specific), you'll discover that the dark spot doesn't always mean a bad tooth. So, the journey continued with root canals, tooth extractions, plate and continued pain. The stumped oral surgeon,finally, directed me to primary care physician. But none of the 3 dentists mentioned trigeminal neuralgia. Primary care doc diagnosed TN, prescribed oxycodone ordered an MRI, and referred me to a neurologist who prescribed gabapentin (neurontin) and lamictal. The pain quickly became manageable . Breakthrough pain occurs from time to time. I still have trouble brushing my teeth but not like before. I am rarely pain free but it is low level. Today, when I drank water with a pill, the lower trigeminal that travels by the tongue went berserk and I had trouble talking for several hours..I haven't had that experience in quite awhile. So, you just never know what's around the corner.
Remember that there are many meds prescribed for this devilish disorder and sometimes it takes awhile to find the right ones for a particular person
So all these extractions do get expensive. The following may help:
cybercat, I have atypical TN and was told same thing. The laser would make me worse. I have tried almost every drug and am now on Keppra along with tegretol ,clonazepam and oxycodone. this mix has been helping me for 2 mos. I had gotten so bad I thought nothing would ever help me. I think you just have to keep changing meds. because there is no cure for ATN because they don't know what causes it. best to you Judith
Mine is mainly in the teeth... when it started anyway. I thought I needed an extraction and was freaking out!!!!! One tooth in particular when the pain is flaring up. It's awful. But then the pain evolved so that it was burning pain in my jaw and then the electrical shock through only one tooth.
That is similar to what I experience mine has always been the lower right jaw it would start at the front of my teeth and move back to the molars..i think at first it might have been more of tmj but the dentist i went to at the time just started doing root canals and ended up making it worse after about 3 months from when i had all these root canals it went away for almost a year without meds....then i went back to a new dentist to have him fix something the other dentist had messed up and it came back i started meds but then became pregnant in which it went away for the most part while i was pregnant and if it did flare up the pain was manageable then about a month after my son was born it came back with a vengeance the worst pain ever i started taking my left over meds but it wasnt working so i went to my family dr because i wanst happy that my neurologist never really told me that it would come back or explained to me what it was everything i have learned i have learned from the internet lol so at the moment i am on trileptal 300mg 2 times a day and i know only have minimal pain when eating but at least i can talk without pain and do my job i am a teacher and i am a mom with 2 small children i just keep my faith and pray everyday!!!!......mine only hurts went i eat talk and brush my teeth