| Numbing/Tingling Upper Right Quadrant Teeth
Please help! All comments, questions, and suggestions are appreciated!
I've been experiencing a numbing/tingling sensation in the upper RIGHT quadrant of my teeth since I was in 9th or 10th grade (about 10 years). The feeling is not constant, but it comes and goes on an irregular basis. It starts in my front right tooth and gradually spreads to the rest of the teeth in that quadrant. The feeling absolutely drives me nuts! It's happened about 30 times during the last 10 years and typically lasts anywhere from 5 minutes to 4 hours. It gives me an incredible headache and I'm looking for some help.
I'll provide a little background information, but I'm not really sure what is and isn't relevant...
1. When I was in 6th grade I caught an elbow in the mouth from a kid a lot bigger than me. In the following weeks/months my front LEFT tooth started turning color and eventaully became dead. A while later I had a root canal done to take care of the dead tooth and remove some of the discoloration. It seemed like everything was alright with the exception of a little cosmetic discoloration...
2. I've had some pretty serious allergies and even been mis-diagnosed with asthma. My allergies include pollen, hayfever, and ibuprofen, to name only a few...
The numbing/tingling began in high school when I started taking Creatine Monohydrate. For those of you who don't know what that is, Creatine is a legal "bulking" supplement that increases lean muscle mass by forcing muscle tissue to retain large amounts of water. Every time I took the creatine, the upper right quadrant of my teeth would would go numb and start tingling within 15 minutes. This went on for a week so I quit taking the Creatine supplement. The numbing/tingling stopped, but has been occasionally recurring during the last 10 years.
I've been trying to log the things that lead up to each occurance and I've noticed that it almost always occurs in the morning. I've only been keeping track for the last 5 years, counting 8 different instances of the problem.
1. At least 2 of the episodes have occured the morning after heavy "college" drinking. (Could dehydration be an issue?)
2. At least 3 of the episodes have occured after eating cereal for breakfast.
3. Another episode occured after eating Domino's pizza.
4. The two most recent episodes have occured after taking Advil (ibuprofen) "Liqui-gels". I was also taking Sudafed for my cold, congestion, and allergies. (Could my sinus issues have had something to do with this?)
So now you can probably see why I'm a little unsure about where to go with this. On one hand, I've had a facial injury with possible nerve damage. I've been reading that nerve damage can result in this type of behavior in one or more quadrants of the mouth.
On the other hand, I've always had moderate to serious allergies and I've really been leaning toward an allergy to some sort of preservative. I'm sure brewery's add preservatives to beer. Many cereals have BHT added to the packaging in order to preserve freshness. Surely Domino's adds preservatives to their pizza. Do the Advil and Sudafed pharmaceuticals add preservatives to their OTC drugs?
Could this be a nerve problem or allergy, or both?
Should I see a general physician or a dentist? Are they likely to refer me to another type of doctor?
I have pretty good health insurance, but I do need to get a referral before I seek the help of a specialist.
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