scguy

Hi all,
Well, it has been about a week since Ive been having bad pain but I'll go ahead and start at the beginning to fill you in on my ordeal.

I had my lower, left wisdom tooth extracted about a month ago. It had to be surgically removed and the operation was over with quickly (from what I heard). I had a pretty bad infection in the area but took all the antibiotics and all the swelling went down within a week. I dont fell sick or feverish at all. I did notice, however, after about 2 weeks that my mouth would not open all the way. It opened more than it does now (like 41mm) but still didnt get all the way open, like usual.

Well, the Tuesday before last, (March 1st.) I was in a little fender-bender. It was nothing too bad, airbags didnt even go off. After about 4 days (by the weekend) i started to get severe pains in my ear/temple/jaw. The pain was so disabilitating all I could do was cry! The following Tuesday I followed up with my Dentist and he said sounded like I was in the beginning stages of TMJ. The pain was constant and nothing would relieve it. Very severe! Well, he gave me some hyrdocodone and sent me on my way. By Thursday I was still in severe pain so i looked in a phone book and picked out a Dentist who had TMJ in his advertisment. Luckily, I got an appointment with him in less than an hour and he took a look at me. He took an X ray, gave me a prescription of pain meds, and Medrol pak (steroids) and then told me if it didnt get better by the next appointment, we would start looking into a Splint.

It has been 4 days since I saw him and the pain is much less severe. I am still very uncomfortable (swollen, tight jaw) and have sharp jabbing pains but nothing like they were last week. I guess i could have the meds timed better or the steroids could be helping. My Mother wants me to see a Dentist where she lives but not sure If I need to spend more money on ANOTHER dentist.
BTW, I have no history of tension/grinding or clenching.

OK, so here are my questions
1. How frequent are the pains? Should I expect to be in CONSTANT pain like this for all of my life?

2. My first Dentist told me that this would probably just "work itself out" in a few weeks. Is it common for problems like this to get better quickly? I am not in as much pain as last week but like I said, the roids might be doing that.

3. How common is it for people getting their wisdom teeth out to get TMJ problems?

4. The Dentist took an X-ray, I dont know if that will tell him anything but do you think I should call him and ask him if he sees anything on it. I really dont want to wait till my next appointment (a week and a day from today).

5. Any other suggestions? Is there a difference between people clenching/grinding and ones that get it from Wisdom tooth extraction?

Thanks all for listening and I hope each and everyone of you get better.