Locked Jaw And I Need My Wisdom Teeth Out! Anyone? - TMJ Disorder -TemporoMandibular Joint Message Board

Carey · 04-20-2004, 09:43 PM

Hi Everyone,

For those who aren't familiar with my tmj story let me update you. I am 23 years old, have had a locked jaw for the past 5 years with an opening of 5mm. went thru all conservative treatments, 2 washouts of the joint, 2 arthroscopes which found that my disc was damaged beyond repair. b/c of my limited opening and severity of pain, I had a discectomy last june. the surgery has helped but the result has not been ideal. my opening has doubled so i am now with a 10mm opening, in terms of my pain it has not helped that much. i am a walking phamacy, on a lot of meds which cut my day short b/c of the sedative nature of them, and i am asleep at 7:30pm.
my pain gets so bad that i collapse and am unconsciouss for up to 2 hours (my most recent episode was just two weeks ago). this has happend on 5 occasions and i am seeing a neurologist to see if he has any answers as to why i am out for so long.

Anyway back to my original post query, i saw my surgeon regarding my wisdom teeth as they have been bothering me, setting off my whole tmj pain cycle, facial, and head pain, spasms and swelling of my face. the teeth bothering me are on my left side (my tmj affected side) how ironic! and i am getting 1 removed in a week's time as the pain is unbearable. i am only having the one out to reduce the amount of time that my jaw will be opened.

I am a bit aprehensive as i am afraid that my tmj pain will be severe post op. but i guess i can't get any worse than passing out from the pain.

Can anyone relate or have any advice?
Sorry this post is such a novel.

Take care,
Carey

westin4 · 04-20-2004, 10:09 PM

Carey, I cannot imagine how severe your pain must be! I have had excruciating pain for about 5 weeks now, but to pass out, I am so sorry! I don't have any good advice for you, I would be scared to death to get a tooth out with your flare up. I had a crown put on a back molar and it brought my tmj back full force and I had been doing really well for about 3 years. I doesn't take much to get it to rear it;s ugly head and when it does it can take soooooooo long to get things calmed down again..please keep us posted and get some good advice, maybe a second opinion to see what you should do to prevent getting injured even further.
Karen

Carey · 04-30-2004, 02:23 AM

Hi Karen,
Thanx for your reply. Well it's been 3 days since i've had my two wisdom teeth out on my left side (tmj side), and the pain has been excruciating. getting my teeth removed has not been that much of a problem, infact it hasn't bothered me all that much, but the usual joint, facial, head and neck pain have been exacerbated as a result of the surgery, and the pain has been excrutiating.

I had to see my surgeon two days post op to get anaesthetic injected into my joint the pain was that severe. I am hoping that once things start to settle down with the swelling and bruising, that some of my facial pain will subside, who knows but i am praying.

Take care,
Carey

Cymy Sue · 04-30-2004, 04:53 AM

Carey,

I know this is an awful thing to have to do after a discectomy and with such a limited opening. Any type of Dental Work while we are in this condition, is a Horror.
The swelling normally causes the pain to escalate. When it goes down, you should feel better. Wisdom teeth extractions can be painful for most people who don't suffer with TMJD or post-op trauma as you have.

I had 4 root canals and an extraction about 3 years after my discectomy. I could open about 10mm. The teeth were all on the same side and had caused terrible pain for many years, with no apparent cause. They didn't want to do this. They were perfectly good teeth, but I couldn't stand the pain any longer. I insisted on the canals. Three teeth quit hurting completely, but one continued and I insisted it be removed a few weeks later and had the space bridged. The tooth pain has never returned, but getting over the procedures took a little while.
I don't regret having it done and I did get over it with no long lasting ill effects.
I hope you feel better soon and hope getting the wisdom teeth out will help.

Cymy Sue

(This would normally be considered quite extreme, to canal & remove perfectly good teeth. The Dentist, Endo's and OS involved had known me for 25 years. They knew these teeth had caused pain for over 15 years. They had tried everything else possible and the teeth never stopped hurting. They only consented to these procedures to stop the pain and as I said, they did not want to do it. I guess they decided if they could stop some of the pain I was suffering, they would. It was decided later, (surgery-related) nerve damage around the teeth roots had caused the pain, as one of the Endo's had suspected. This wouldn't be anything to consider for short-term, minor pain)

Carey · 05-01-2004, 02:13 AM

Hey CymySue,

Good to see you are still around (I mean on the boards, I havn't been on for a while). Geez, it sounds like you've had your fair share of dental problems and then tmj on top of it is a horror.
My OS had to leave part of my wisdom tooth in the socket because it was impinging and over lapping the nerve. if he was to remove the whole toooth I may well have had permanent nerve damage, so it was a good idea that he suggested a ct scan to confirm whether the tooth was over lapping on the nerve. the same goes for my other (right side) wisdom teeth, the nerve is impinging also, so the same procedure (A coronoidectomy? not sure on the spelling) would need to be done. but hopefully this will not eventuate.

I'll keep you ypdated on my progress.

Take care,
Carey