From: curtis@megatek.com (Curtis Popoff)
Subject: Re: Hubby's toothache
Organization: Megatek Corporation
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 08:15:12 GMT

From article <93021.214514PXF3@psuvm.psu.edu>, by <PXF3@psuvm.psu.edu>:
> My hubby has had a toothache for three weeks.  He has been to the dentist
> twice, but the dentist can't find the problem.  He x-rayed the tooth on the
> first visit and said there was no abcess, cavity, or cracked filling that he
> could see.  He desensitized the tooth and gave Craig ineffective pain
> medication.
> 
> After the second visit to the dentist, Craig went to the family doctor,
> thinking maybe he had a sinus infection or something like that.  Since he
> wasn't running a fever, the doctor didn't give him antibiotics, but he did
> give him stronger painkillers.  Still, Craig is having trouble sleeping and
> is really hurting.  The dentist called two nights ago to check on him and
> said if he's still in pain next week to come back in.

    This sounds quite similar to what happened to me.  I had a toothache
with no visible cause.  My dentist took x-rays, did massive probing around
the tooth, stuck chunks of ice in my mouth against the tooth, and did just
about everything but pour hot coffee on the tooth.  No visible reaction or
cause.

    Her explanation to me was it was possible that the "ligumentum" (sp?)
holding the tooth was damaged.  My (minimal) understanding is that teeth
are held in the gums by strands of ligument.  It is possible to damage this
ligument by chewing hard items (candy or ice) or a blow to the jaw (or even
just old age or poor diet).  This is quite likely what happened to me because
I chew mass quantities of ice (and the pain started shortly after a meal).

    She told me that if that we the case the pain would slowly go away.  It
did, taking about 2-3 weeks before it wasn't noticable anymore.  During the
period it was bothering me, I experimented a bit with the pain.  I
intentionally chewed ice (a bad habit) on that side.  No change the pain
level was immediately noticable, but about 30-60 minutes later, yow! It was
bothering me worse than before.  I quit chewing stuff on that side and am
convinced that it helped speed the healing.
    
    Another possible is that if your husband grinds his teeth (during
sleep or other times), he may be irritating the ligumentum.

    The only other thing I could think that my have happened to your
husband is that he may have gotten a hairline crack in the tooth, but
your dentist should have been able to spot that.  I've done this as well
and the pain in this case only lasts a few weeks.

                                        -Curtis

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