Jaw pain

lynnemarie1123

Hi guys x hope we are mainly pain free.

Wonder if anyone can help x way back when when I got diagnosed with sereo negative arthritis amongst other joints was my jaw - I had at the age of 15 fainted and fallen onto my jaw -this was the reason for arthritis to set into it!! It was v bad I could hardly open my jaw at some point ! Eating and talking were painful - there was talk about surgery but persevered and eventually with the meds when my condition calmed down so did that joint - hurray !! Even when I flare that one doesn't join in ( phew)

Last week I visited the dentist and had done work done on a tooth at the top it was pretty intense took approx 20mins x lots of drilling and vibrations etc ! I was in shock after and took me a while to come round x anyway day after was fine just felt a bit tender on that tooth x bit as the days progressed around day 5/6 I started to get pain and throbbing in that whole area x so much so that contacted dentist thinking it was an infection - dentist said nit and it is my jaw to blame and I must have been grinding my teeth ( I don't grind!) - he suggested jaw exercises- which of course I'll do but I super duper scared that I'm going down the same road of it all starting again :-(

Has anyone had anything similar ??

Thankyou in advance xx

Compositor

Hi lynnemarrie1123

Hi had similar problems about 4 years ago, I spent a considerable time in the chair with my jaw prised open for a long time whilst they did a job on me, it was the start of a great deal of pain thereafter. After complaining of my paining jaw ache, continuously, for a great length of time to both the GP/Dentist, I was then referred to the local Hospital Dentistry Consultant. After a couple of appointments, he decided that it was "Arthritis" that was causing the constant paining in my jaw and suggested I went in to have pain killing injections to calm it down. It did! I have not had anymore problems since, thankfully...although, apart from regular checkups I've required nothing doing.

Butnow I have started having problems again recently, of which the Dentist has looked at the problem a couple of times, stating that there's a need to remove the tooth nerve, cold/hot food/drinks are causing lots of pain...I'm bothered in case it starts it all off again with the "Arthritis", it's not something I want to endure all over again having to having pain killing injections afterwards, but, sore jaw/teeth problems are things we can't ignore, sadly.

Good luck.

John x

Rebeccarockchick

Hi Lynnemarie1123, sorry to hear of your troubles and i understand your fear of your jaw problems and pain coming back. I have suffered for many, many years with various jaw issues and each time I did find it a little frightening. I had calcium stones in the right hand side of my jaw, this caused locking and swelling, a few years later I woke up one morning and could not open my mouth and after a visit to the hospital they said I had damaged a ligament or torn it or something like that(must have done it in my sleep). I have a clunky/locking jaw. I cannot eat apples/chewy bread or meat/chew gum etc.(I do look at people biting into apples and dream about how lovely it would be always looks so yummy!) I have OA in lots of joints and other medical issues, I have never been told officially yet I have OA in my jaw- one dentist said my wisdom teeth could be causing the pain, or from teeth grinding, but yes if you have had a previous injury then that can cause secondary osteoarthritis or like you said you was diagnosed previous arthritis and it could be the dental work has caused it to flare back up. Sometimes I have spasms in the jaw muscles because I probably over use my jaw and I do not know if I grind my teeth when I sleep-I have a feeling I do. I have never tried the exercises or asked for physio on my jaw so cannot advise if it would be helpful or not.

When I visit the dentist, I always ask for sedation now for any treatment, small filling, extraction etc. When you are given sedation it allows the jaw to relax and open gentle to allow the dentist to do the work.I do not know if this is something you could consider in the future, it really does help. My jaw is still sore after any dentist treatment. I sometimes use something warm on my face like a small hot water bottle wrapped in a cloth ( be careful not to burn yourself).

I see my GP rather than the dentist about my painful jaw(I went both times about my calcium stones/ligament damage) as he can refer you to a specialist at hospital and knows more about your arthritis. Maybe worth a visit xx becks

stickywicket

You may indeed have sero-neg arthritis in your jaw but, if your jaw problems resulted from trauma, you might also have osteo there.

My jaw doesn't open much at all (Though my husband would deny that ) and my dentist is amazing in how she gets in there. I don't know whether mine is RA or OA or a combination as I've had both for years. I've virtually no pain there though.

It's stands to reason (Well, it does to mine) that, if you've had some serious drilling and poking done, things will take a while to settle down again. I'm sure you did the right thing in going back to the dentist but I hope it will settle down and the exercises will help.

lynnemarie1123

Hi guys X Thankyou for your reply!

I am pleased to report my jaw pain has eased ! Thank god ! So I assume it was just my body saying it didn't I've my jaw being clamped open for a period of time x phew !! Xx

Sending lots of love xxx

stickywicket

I'm glad it's eased off but do hope it doesn't happen again. My dentist has previously popped a sort of tube in my mouth for me to bite on. It's much more restful for the jaw than trying to hold it open. Possibly a solution for next time?

lynnemarie1123

Thanks I'll bear that in mind x not out of the woods yet ! This morning it flared again !! - serves me right for thinking It was sorted