If I had not come to my wits’ end, I wouldn’t turn to you with the following detailed long story. But maybe you have some advice for me?
A total of 17 (!) physicians (5 dentists, 2 orthodontists, 2 university dental clinics, 2 skin doctors, 2 general practitioners, 1 eye doctor, 2 neurologists, and 1 ENT specialist) are all at a loss. Here is my (almost) endless tale of woe:
In November of 2008, my dentist at the time discovered a case of dental caries under a bridge in my upper left jaw (reaching from teeth 2.3 to 2.6 – tooth no. 2.4 is missing the cavity (at tooth no. 2.5) could be seen on the X-ray. He proceeded to remove the cavity and perform a root canal treatment on that tooth. Since the previous bridge had to be removed in the process, the entire area was subsequently provided with a temporary bridge made of plastic.
About three days after this intervention, a swelling the size of a lentil formed on the inside of the palate about one centimeter above the edge of the gums between the treated tooth (2.5) and the tooth directly behind it (2.6); the swelling was slightly sensitive to pressure.
In conjunction with (and, in my opinion, originating from) this swelling, the following discomforts appeared:
- the left nostril sometimes closed up
- a slight pulling on the left inner side of the nose towards the eye
- a feeling of pressure behind the left eye (as if someone was pressing the eye softly with a finger from the back towards the front and out of the eye socket) combined with a slightly impaired vision
- a light earache
After I described these symptoms to my dentist, he performed a root canal treatment on the canine (2.3), but without success; the discomforts continued. The same was the case when he subsequently performed a root canal treatment on the last tooth (2.6) underneath this bridge.
After that, he sent me to an orthodontist who was supposed to remove the swelling with the aid of a laser. This was indeed done, but the “lump” returned after about 4 - 5 days…
My dentist referred me to the university hospital in Witten, where a tissue sample was surgically taken and histologically examined, without any further findings (“inconspicuous, normal tissue”).
Of course, during this entire time, several X-rays images were taken, but none of them led to any diagnosis.
After half a year had gone by, I had tooth no. 2.5 pulled in June of 2009 – as it turned out during the procedure, it had been completely fine. The discomforts remained…
Subsequent visits to eye and skin doctors, as well as to an ENT specialist, led to a CT, MRT, and EEG, all without any findings. According to two neurologists (independently from one another), the trigeminus nerve had not been affected either.
So then my dentist proposed confronting the whole issue with a jaw measurement and the subsequent use of a metal-supported, long-term temporary bridge in combination with a bite splint as he now suspected cranio-mandibular dysfunction of the jaw. But even months after this procedure took place, the discomforts continued.
Then, at the end of 2009, after a recommendation, I changed dentists. The new one took a DVT (a 3D image) of my head, but again, there were no visible findings. And so I tried to accept the discomforts and problems as a fact, especially since medications (antibiotics) did not bring about any relief.
Until about March/April of this year [2010], I had accepted my issues to some extent. But after another surgery (varicose veins) under (my first) general anesthesia in March, they became increasingly worse. And the problems already mentioned have since been joined by the following discomforts:
- “Pinching” or sensations and irritations above the left eye in the area of the eyebrow
- A feeling as if hair is brushing softly across the forehead (although there is none)
- A feeling of liquid or a drop running down underneath the skin, from the upper left eye socket to the left nostril
- The feeling of an inflammation/a slight burning sensation in the left mouth and throat area as well as on the tongue
- A slight feeling of nausea
- A feeling as if I were chewing into rubber on the left side
- The swelling on the inside of the palate changes: Sometimes it swells up and sometimes it gets smaller; sometimes it is softer and sometimes it is rock-hard. And sometimes, its surface is rough too, and feels like sandpaper.
Since I could no longer bear these discomforts, I removed the long-term temporary bridge myself in May of this year (since I suspected I was allergic to it) and discovered that the spot underneath the temporary bridge, where the no. 2.5 tooth had been extracted from about one year earlier and where the swelling continues to persist, was fiery red and inflamed. Regarding this fact, my dentist said that it’s not conspicuous and that it can sometimes happen underneath a temporary bridge...
Since then, I’ve been wearing my “old” plastic temporary bridge but haven’t noticed any improvement. To be on the safe side, my dentist opened the spot – after the inflammation had subsided somewhat – and debrided the bone. The discomforts continued…
The last “remaining” (rear) tooth of the bridge (2.6) has also been causing particular problems for a while.
In this area, I often feel a slight tapping, throbbing, stinging, or pulling. However, this tooth is not sensitive to poking (when tapping it with an instrument).
Primarily, the gums around this tooth (2.6) are sensitive (to pain), as well as slightly swollen and reddened. Until recently, only the front of the tooth was affected by this, but for several weeks now, this symptom has been reaching around to the back of the tooth. What’s more, even with light pressure on the affected gums, the above-mentioned sensations increase, especially the pinching in the area of the eyebrows.
Incidentally, all this doesn’t occur simultaneously, but in an alternating fashion or in any combination. Besides that, these symptoms appear in phases, i.e., sometimes they subside, but then they return more intensely so that there is a net increase in the level of aggravation.
To be on the safe side, my current dentist performed a treatment a few weeks ago, i.e., opening the gums and taking a look at the root of tooth no. 2.6, in order to be able to rule out a possible hairline crack in the root. However, this brought about no new finding either.
Other than that, all the dentists agree that the root canal treatments performed look perfect.
In addition to that, a doctor I know recently preformed a test for anaerobic bacteria by taking three smears at three locations in the oral cavity (on the tongue, in the area of the swelling and in the area of the gums). After incubating the smears, sporadic bacteria of the “prevotella” and “candida albicans” types were found (besides the “common” bacteria in the oral cavity.
For the sake of completeness, let me say that none of the examinations by my family doctor yielded any conspicuous findings; my blood values and other data (blood pressure, EKG, etc.) are all fine.
Since April/May 2010, none of the following medications prescribed by various physicians brought any relief:
- The antibiotic “Amoxicyclin”
- An antibiotic treatment (of 10 days) with “Clont” and “Amoxicylin” in combination
- The antibiotic “Azithromycin”
- The antibiotic “Doxy-CT”
- The antibiotic “Cefuroxim AL 250”
- An enzyme treatment with “Wobenzym”
- An enzyme treatment with “Enzyme Plus”
- Biochemic cell salts (in accordance with Schüssler)
- Various mouth rinses (Chlorhexamed, Mundil, black cumin oil, etc.)
My dentist does not want to pull the no. 2.6 tooth, in which area the pain is primarily located now, because he views this as bodily harm (for no justifiable reason). Instead, he would like to place implants and thus re-establish “equilibrium and peace” in the upper jaw. But I have grave reservations about having implants placed in a (suspected) focus of inflammation, i.e., before the cause(s) of all of these problems have been found.
In any case, I thank you very much in advance (just for reading up to this point) and I look forward to your answer…
Best regards,
Sylvia
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