After a bad experience with having a tooth extracted I switched dentists. The first one failed to get a tooth numb but pulled it. The tooth was abcessed so I understood what happened but he should have waited until medications cleared the infection.
Last week I had another took extracted. There was no infection. The dentist gave me as many shots as she possibly could and my mouth and face were VERY numb and yet I could feel a "nerve" kind of discomfort. She said she was barely touching it and thought maybe I was so nervous that the anesthesia was being used up by my body too quickly. ???????
I am now wondering if this is an offshoot of fibromyalgia and would like to know if any of you have had a similar situation.

I have not been formally diagnosed because for about six years my Dr. has said she thinks I have fibromyalgia but said I wouldn't want that on my chart. (?) Now the fatigue, muscle spasms, joint pain, stiffness, dropping things, brain fog, depression and about 20 other symptoms are getting to the point that I wake up feeling like I have the flu every day. I DO WANT IT ON MY CHART because to see a specialist they have to have my medical charts, review them and get back to me as to whether they will take me as a patient. Today I will see the G.P. and explain why I need to be sure she has documented the reason why she has been giving me various medications for various symptoms. I had about three months of UTI's last year. The very odd thing is the only time I feel pretty "normal" is when I take a medication she perscribed for weight loss. I thought the reason I felt better on those days was because I was staying away from soft drinks and I know they cause my knees to hurt. I now believe that the phentermine, for some reason, helps the symptoms. I don't understand it but I will continue to take them and as a good side effect lose weight and hopefully get busy in an aquasize class at the gym.
I know this is long and wordy but I just am starting to put all of it together.
My brother had psoriatic arthristis. My father had rhumatoid arthritis, as did my grandfather. That has been ruled out for me but something is very wrong.

I appreciate having this forum to read more about what you are experiencing. It really helps not to feel all alone.

I am not really sure about the fibro affecting the numbing of the tooth.

Are you on pain medications? I ask because they can affect your body's tolerance to other pain or numbing medications. I used to be a RN and I know that pain patients (and alcoholics) require much higher doses of certain medications.

No not until after the tooth was sectioned and I developed a dry socket. Then I took pain meds for a couple of days. There wasn't anything aside from a xanax (low dose).

I had all but 4 teeth pulled at once and fibro had no affect on the numbing medication.

I also have trouble with the numbing medication. But, last time I went they used a different medication and it worked this time. It is only the right side of my mouth that won't get numb for some reason!

i've had wisdom teeth pulled, a root canal and fillings in the past six weeks and the fibro had nothing to do with the numbing of a tooth. i did have to take pain meds for the root canal, which many people don't have to do, but i have a low tolerance for pain, which i think we all do and i should have said i had to take extra pain meds. so i don't think fibro has anything to do with whether an anisthetic is doing to numb out. it sounds like this is a seperate issue.

I am currently recovering from having my upper teeth removed for a full plate set of dentures. I've only just in the last week been able to keep them in my mouth due to pain issues. I found that the shots would numb, but the nerve would still protest as each was pulled, but I did not find it painful, only alarming. That is difficult to explain, but it's the only way I know how to say it. I also opted for the gas as well, and I feel like that may have been my saviour through that awful proceedure. The gas relaxed me enough to let the novacaine do it's job. I might add though that it took the maximum number of doses they can give... I was beginning to fear that I would have to have the teeth pulled and just bear it before it finally got numb for me... a little scary. Fibro ruined my teeth. 7 years ago, I had most of my teeth, but they began getting very brittle. I never knew when I would bite and loose large chunks of a tooth. Nearly every tooth I had was getting cavities at an alarming rate, and I was brushing regularly... just couldn't stop the inevitable. I know now that a lot of that came about as a result of a very low vitamin D level. Since I have been taking D supplimentation... none of the sparse little teeth I have left of my own ( only 9 lowers left) have deteriorated any more. Please have your vitamin D levels monitored!! I lost all my teeth because of it, and because there were not enough to anchor a partial in my uppers, 4 of the teeth I had pulled were completely savable. Errrgg!:(

Ishla, i just wanted to tell you how sorry iam that you are going through this,i know it has to be very hard you are so thoughtful to tell everyone about the vitamin D issue,i must say i didnt know there was a connection.i cant beleave the important things some of these drs forget to tell us,how hard would that have been for even the dentist to tell us,thank you for the information and for being so caring when you are having a hard time yourself,feel better Ishla you are a great person.:angel:marywoo

I've had a similar problem with getting numb for dental work. I've gone to Canada to try newer anesthetics -- still not numb. Different dentists, different shot techniques -- still not numb. Never used to have dental anxiety, but after a few procedures w/out adequate numbing, I was getting to the anxiety stage. So dentist rxd some sort of benzo to be taken before procedure, on the assumption that anxiety was causing the failure to numb. Still no numbing. And, for the record, I am very sensitive to most meds, don't use alchohol, and am not on any rx pain meds.

I numbed up easily for my dental work in the early part of my life. And it seems as though I'm over the "no-numb" problem. It cleared up around the same time as I got my low thyroid hormones back in balance (w/meds). That also helped with the fibro ...

So, my advice is to get a full thyroid panel (not just the standard TSH) --the real thing, the free T3, free T4, and antibodies. Thyroid hormone dampens Substance P -- your body's pain megaphone.

Best wishes.

Yes! You explained it well. I did numb and stayed quite numb for hours after returning home and yet the nerve would ZING and cause me alarm. I couldn't have the gas because my dentist is pregnant. Thank you for clearing that up. Next time I will use the other dentist and gas and try to remember that there is a difference between pain and nerve zings. You guys are so helpful.:D