Can this tooth pain really be TMJ???

Thelma-Louise

Hi! Peoni - I have seen your posts in the Dental forum as well so I am pretty familiar with your saga.

Have you been to a neuromuscular dentist that uses a tens unit hooked up to a pc and monitor to check your bite? They attach anodes with wires to your face, jaw and neck and stimulate the muscles to invoke a chewing motion of the jaws and then measure the forces exerted by the muscles to try and determine if there is malocclusion or which muscles are being overworked.

If your natural teeth have been adjusted to accomodate other dental work such as bridges or crowns its often difficult to restore the bite back to its original inclination but the use of customized splints by a qualified dr trained in FJO should be able to provide some relief by balancing the bite more. Finding the right dr is the really hard part as many here can attest to.

I really sympathize with you since tmj can make your teeth hurt so bad you just want to yank them all out and be done with it - right now I am walking around with no front teeth and my molars have been filed down for crowns - but when they put crowns and bridges in my mouth the pain becomes intolerable - and I am on my 4th tmj specialist. But I have seen some progress with my current dr so I feel it is possible to fix this. I still have 2 teeth however that whenever they are touched invoke facial muscle spasms and at this point I am thinking of just pulling them.

If the teeth affected have crowns on them, have you tried just having the crowns removed and leaving them alone for a few months to see if they calm down on their own - that's basically what my tmj dr suggested and I think that is why I have made some progress these last couple of months.

blahblah

Hi -

You might want to do a search on my saga - I too have isolated pain in ONE tooth along with my TMJD - all on same side of my jaw. My bite is bad - shifted and shifted in the last almost 2 years. All began with a cracked molar - had a root canal - and the tooth has never been right. Has been examined repeatedly and all endos agree - NO repeat of root canal is necessary.

I just spent $3000 on my splint therapy - first splint was a repositioning upper splint, to reposition jaw and 2nd was to stabilize jaw while it healed - a lower splint. Began using that in June and can't bare to wear it. Why? Because it hurts my tooth!

TMJ dentist wants it re-treated with root canal, but endo who did it and the man i went to for a second opinion both agree - it is NOT the tooth, it is my TMJD.

So off I go this Friday for yet another opinion at a new TMJD specialist in New York City to the tune of $500 to get his opinion, and only his opinion. will take all my xrays and mri's and see what he says.

i have a totally open bite on the side of my pain.

I will let you know what he says.

pinktulip

Hello--
Thanks everyone for your input--and compassion--
I have a large bridge (whole upper quadrant) that has been continually adjusted and adjusted (it is a temp), so the permanent teeth have not been filed.. But this bridge just pulls and aches and one area tooth seems to jab whenever I move.
I did go to the Tufts Dental School Pain Clinic who made a splint that obviously was not the right approach---gave me headaches and spasms--my doc and osteopath both said it was not good!!--I may try again if they will take another approach.--but supposedly, they are the experts!!
I hope my prosthodontist is not losing patience--do your docs seem to hang in there? We are a VERY frustrating group to bother with for them. I think he doesn't know what to do anymore and doesn't want to waste any more time.--the plan now is he is going to reshape the involved teeth and make a new temp bridge--but that will take another month!--this is very difficult struggling thru each day.
I did suggest crowning the three teeth and leaving the extraction site open, but he didn't like that idea. Actually, I would like an implant, but with unidentified pain, no one thinks I am a good candidate with my history/

And so the pain goes on and on..sometimes, I don't think the docs understand that this is PAIN, not just discomfort,--that it is really paralizing.