Eating my breakfast this morning the cereal had something hard in it that shouldn't of been there and my tooth literally snapped on the outside edge. It's now got a huge hole and is missing at least 1 of the 4 points.
I am scared of dentists but what REALLY is stressing me out is that this tooth is on my TN side and is on the V2 branch which is my most painful branch. What do I ask when I call for an appointment? What should I ask a dentist? Chances are I won't be able to find a nice dentist that has dealt with a TN patient, any tips?
About a month ago, I had to get a root canal. I went and saw my facial pain specialist first (he has to "approve" any dental work). Anyway, he agreed that I needed the work done.
He insisted that I take 60mg of dextramothorphan the day before, the day of, and the day after the procedure. He said it blocks some of the receptors in the brain for neuropathic pain, and that it would aid in not making my pain problem worse. I did it, and the root canal went very well. It's something really easy to do, so I will always do it in the future. (he's not a hack, he really knows his stuff)
That's all the advice I have. I hope it goes well.
There is a dental clinic in the closest city that is called "Dentistry for Chickens" and they offer IV sedation for all procedures which sounds like my kind of thing! I think there was decay as a cause as there's now brown bits in the middle where that tooth touched the other tooth on either side. I need one of those dental holidays people go on! I wonder if they do payment plans, we are trying to sell our house and have put in an offer to buy the next house. Not good timing! They will probably say I need a million other things done and they are probably right but the cost and the fear puts me off! I have no medical insurance and most plans here don't include dental.
My dentist initially sent me to an endo who was fabulous. My advice would be asking the dentist if he is familiar with TN. Take it from there. Good luck.
My dentist didn't know anything about TN until I taught him. Before my appointment I googled a page , something like dentistry and TN, but hunt around until you find a page with hints to give to your dentist. My article said not to use epinephrine in your novacaine because it can cause some increase in the pain receptors with TN patients. It also said that Marcaine was a better choice than Novacaine...it lasts longer etc. Wish I remembered the site. I had time to take this to my dentists office as my appt was not urgent. Glad I did, as he did not have Marcaine and had to borrow some from the neighboring dentist. Since then I have used Novacaine on mild procedures without problem. I do pre-medicate and post medicate with my TN meds. I also took a picture of the trigeminal nerves in with me. He also offered Nitrous Oxide or anti-anxiety medication , but I opted not to. Hope this helps and hope you don't need a crown (so espensive). kg
I popped into the dentists that do the IV sedation with midazolam and they seemed lovely, they can see me for a consultation with possible x-rays tomorrow morning. I explained to the receptionist and the dentist that owns the practice that I had TN and it's on my TN side and would prefer no local anaesthetic injections if I can get away with it. They will have a look tomorrow and see what needs doing (the receptionist said she had seen worse so that was encouraging) ... I know if you need a few hours of repairs they just do it in one big lot which is good.
Here's a picture of my tooth, I happened to be waiting for a different health appointment so I took a pic with my phone :) The enamel completely shattered exposing the dentin.
Get this, they did an xray and there's an abscess above that tooth/on TN side that is so big he reckoned it may have been there for a few years! He said he has had TN patients that are TN-free after fixing teeth and abscesses but also others that it hasn't. The main TN pain is right where the abscess is and he is hoping (though I also have a different nerve branch with TN). He said normally they would try a root canal but in my case with the TN and the size of the abscess and that there is actually not that much tooth left he is going to extract it. He is in amazement that the tooth hasn't been sore at all. So in a few weeks I am going back, getting knocked out and tooth out and a good clean. Need 3 small fillings which I will do at a later date, I will be living in another city by then but I may drive back to these guys as they will sedate you to have any work done unless I find someone else that does that in the new city. I'll have to see if this affects my TN at all!
