I was having a really bad flare-up last Wednesday, so I made an emergency neuro appointment with a doctor other than the one I registered with as she was away for the week. Well, this new doctor told me as I described her my problem and how it started (dental treatment or, rather medical negligence followed by a line of dental treatments in my case) that atypical TN actually is seen quite often in relation to dental treatments. I thought that ATN was something rare? And if it's so common as she suggested, why wouldn't the dentists be aware of it? Judging from my experience, most dentists don't even consider ATN an option...are they really not taught in university about the trigeminal nerve, phantom pain and possibly other phenomena that just don't show up on x-rays? Why don't the neurologists give some feedback to the dental associations, would it be too much trouble...what are your thoughts?
i saw my dentist and endodontist last week ... they both told me they are educated about TN ... that they all are
R/
Rebecca
My dentist was the first to mention TN and said a neurologist would be a good idea. But he has two other patients with TN and was genuinely sorry when I told him the diagnosis. He knew all about triggers and the pain. But my endo had no idea, she just told me that there was nothing wrong.
I had a lot of dental work because I thought it was my teeth. That's what dentists are trained to do. And I think it is mentioned in their training, but just mentioned . If there is pain, it must be a tooth, but when I was still in pain and there was finally nothing they could find my dentist finally mentioned TN and a neurologist. I just don't think that they get that many patients with TN. I was lucky though that my dentist knew about it.
My dentist is the one who diagnosed what I had…after seeing two family doctotrs and an ENT
in dentistry and neurology -- it gets ONE chapter or less in their text books --- SAD --- getting somewhat better in the cyber age
I have a dentist that is very TN aware.
He takes time to train up on it and even now speaks at conferences to others in his profession about TN.
I think I was one of the first few who presented with TN. He certainly now knows much more than he did back in 2005 when I was diagnosed.
I have been to other dentists when he was not avaliable and they have no clue. Once I got up and walked out when a dentsit made the coment that TN is all in your head. (well he was correct) I thought walking away was better than what was on my mind at the time.
The great thing about Ralph (my dentist) is he makes sure I have pain relife. He suggests that prior painkiller intake before hand is a great idea.
He costs more than some but I will pay the extra every time
Simon