I'm probably like many people that stumble onto this board -- troubled by some early signs and wondering what is going on. I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and can speak to it.

About 8-9 days ago, I felt like something was stuck in my upper right, back teeth. No real pain, but felt like there was extra pressure or something. Then, a day later, that sort of subsided and it felt a little numb. Or I *think* it felt a little numb -- it was NOT like my entire gums or mouth was numb at all. But it felt "strange" somehow if I pushed on the back teeth. It stayed like that for a few days, and then the feeling spread from the upper, back, right teeth to the upper, front, right teeth. Not exactly numb, certainly no pain, just felt kind of "wrong."

It has since subsided almost completely. But I went in to see the dentist who took an X-ray. And he told me that he thinks I have MS.

This caught me completely by surprise. The last thing I expected when going to the dentist is to be told I have MS. I understand that to diagnose MS you need multiple, separate incidents and maybe an MRI showing lesions? So, obviously, since this is the very first thing that has ever happened like this, he can't say I have MS.

My question is really: should this count as a possible first symptom? In poking around on the Web, I see lots of discussion of double vision, or dizziness, or weakness, or numbness in arms and legs (or occasionally face). But I can't find anything specific to numbness in the teeth or gums like I had. Has anyone had that as a first symptom?

And if not that, someone else suggested Trigeminal Neuralgia to me as well. But I haven't had any pain at all. Does anyone here have TN and if so, did it start with numbness, or does it always start as pain?

I am seeing a neurologist tomorrow, but of course I'm already worried and concerned.

Thanks for any input.

-Dave

dave,

welcome,

this symptom may or may not be associated with ms.

you seem to be well informed on ms.Theres many mimickers.

as for your question,yes I have had numb gums in the past.

its good that you are seeing a neuro,good luck

I had TN. My symptoms were identical.

I think the dentist may have jumped the gun a bit but I'm glad you're seeing a specialist. My MS did start with mouth symptoms. My tongue went numb on one side. I also had other symptoms, I lost the vision (ON) on the same eye the tongue numbness was on and I had weakness in one leg and numbness in both legs.

Please keep us posted on what the specialist has to say!

Thanks to you all for your input. It is amazing how much it helps to hear from veterans when you are navigating this kind of space.

I had my appt. and got pretty good news. As you all know, you can't really rule out MS, but he did say that:

TN is an unusual way for MS to present, and when it does present like this, it is usually the whole nerve that is affected, not just one branch (so it would affect the whole face, not just the upper jaw). He didn't say it wasn't possible to present like this, but that in 30 years of practice, he'd never heard of it presenting this way.
If I had come to him with these symptoms initially, the diagnosis of MS would not have even crossed his mind. I took that to be a pretty good sign.
He thinks it is "benign trigeminal neuropathy" -- essentially he thinks the nerve got a little irritated being near a sinus cavity when I got a cold two weeks ago.
He said I could get an MRI if I wanted to help with my sanity, but that he feels no need for one at this point.


Anyway, at this point, the way I look at it is that you can't diagnose it as MS without another symptom presenting anyway. So I will keep my eyes open for any signs, but really, how is that different from any other day of your life? Something could happen at any point, so why worry until there is something concrete to worry about. Easier said than done, of course, but that's my goal.

Thanks again for all your comments and support. This seems like a great community of people.

-Dave

He said I could get an MRI if I wanted to help with my sanity, but that he feels no need for one at this point.

-Dave

I think that I would get an MRI. At the very least they could catch the problem earlier or you could easily get some resolution sooner. The MRI would be able to serve as a benchmark which future MRIs could be compared in case of any progression.

I think that I would get an MRI. At the very least they could catch the problem earlier or you could easily get some resolution sooner. The MRI would be able to serve as a benchmark which future MRIs could be compared in case of any progression.

Thanks MSJayhawk. I debated this for awhile (since MRI isn't definitive, is it worth worrying myself with a false positive). But I have decided to follow your advice and go through with the MRI ... if nothing else, it will have a baseline. And my neurologist seems good about managing my emotions when he gives me results of tests. Hopefully it will come back clean, but as a 36-year-old with a history of cancer and migraines... NO test like this comes back clean! In any case, thanks for your thoughts on this; it is probably good advice.

Thanks,
-Dave