Hello, Does anyone suffer from tooth ache or sore gums? I have been troubled with pain in my mouth, however my dentist cant find a problem, could this be MS related?
Jan
Hi Jan,
Yes, there’s an MS-related condition called trigeminal neuralgia: it’s often mistaken for very bad toothache. Some people have gone so far as to have extractions or root-canal work, only to find it didn’t fix it, because the problem was never their teeth. Sounds like this might be the trouble.
Tina
Oh dear, I have had a tooth taken out about 18mths ago because of the pain, and its come back again!!! I am at he hospital on thursday will tell my neuro. Thanks Tina.
Jan
Oh dear, I’m sorry you’ve already had work done that didn’t fix it. Unfortunately, this is far too common, but often the person either doesn’t know they have MS, or never suspects it as the culprit, until their dentist has already tried and failed to sort it out. 
It’s inflammation of one of the nerves to the face, which is why it feels like toothache. People can sometimes also mistake it for sinus pain, or even earache.
Tina
hi
i had 2 teeth removed by dentist cos pain was horrendous. now no more pain. have had tn before and this teeth pain was even worse than that! i dont regret my decision but please be110% sure of what is causing the pain.
ellie x
It’s grim isn’t it? I ended up at the emergency out of hours dentist, as I thought I had an abcess, but x-rays and examination was clear. My regular dentist ‘diagnosed’ TN which I thought affected the nerve on the outside of you face, but he said he’d seen other patients presenting in the same way. I hope you get it sorted soon! xx
I’ve had this for months now. Its really grim.
I sympathise with anyone who has this. There are times when i have struggled to cope with it.
I don’t know what the answer is though!
I wake up everyday and hope it has gone away but am losing hope now after 18 months!
I am feeling sick with it and have lost my appetite as well.
Teresa.x
HI Jan. I had this last week. It wasn’t constant but was coming and going for a day and a half. I have no dental problems. I have had trigeminal neuralgia before but this was different. I can only assume that as we have nerves in our teeth that they are also a target.
Mary
I had this for the first time this morning, nerve pain on both sides of my face, along with my old friends nerve pain in my chest/back. I took an extra Amitriptyline and had a lie down, it seems to have gone off now. It could have been something to do with the cat waking me suddenly this morning by throwing up on the bedroom floor! It usually happens after some kind of upset.
Wendy x
Im one of those who have had 5 teeth out because of it, only for the dentist to say when hes examined the tooth and gum - ‘there was nothing wrong with the tooth’. Even my gp didnt know what it was. I do now, but with a lot less teeth. Ironically, I still get the pain where the tooth used to be, but its more bearable now its only gum left.
Am I sorry for losing teeth, you bet, but the pain was so excrutiating, I had no choice. If you can, try bear with it, try buying something to rub on the tooth and take plenty of paracetamol, and Tegretol if possible.
bren
x
Hi it all seams so complexed lots of areas that are affected by MS . Today I have been ok, but it tends to be early evening when my legs and hands and arms ache so much I could cry.
Jan
For Wendy:
I had it just the once, Wendy, as well. I didn’t know I had MS then, so had no idea what brought it on.
One night I went to bed feeling fine (or as fine as I’ve been for years with this sh*t, anyway).
Woke up in the night with savage, pulsating toothache, upper jaw, BOTH sides. I’m told both sides at once is very unusual.
Staggered to the bathroom, took just about everything in the cabinet it was OK to take at once, and thought: “Obviously, I won’t be working tomorrow…”
Went back to bed, and don’t know how I dozed off with so much pain going on, but somehow I must have.
Woke up next morning at the usual time, with not a trace of pain - no clue anything unusual happened in the night at all. Even wondered if it had been some kind of weird nightmare, in which I thought I woke up in terrible pain.
Touch wood, I’ve never had it since. But now that I’m diagnosed, I think: “I bet that must be what that awful pain in the night was!”
I never could understand how I went to bet fine, woke up fine, but in between had severe toothache for a couple of hours, for no reason. I just thought I must have slept in a weird position, and it caused some kind of pressure.
T.
x
Hi I started with this pain nearly 3yrs ago, had tooth taken out 18mths later…Pain free for a yr or so started with these strange symptoms, and feeling awful but didnt know why. MS is so weird .
Jan
Lately I’ve been having a lot of tooth ache problems. The bottom right side was hurting me like crazy. But there was no cavity. There was nothing the dentist could detect. It was like three teeth in a row are hurting. I begged them to give me novacaine shots he gave me two. He also prescribed sensitive toothpaste prevident 5000 and a special mouthwash period within days it disappeared. Thank God I did not extract anything. Few days ago I was chewing on a bagel and now the right upper side is hurting. But this time my face is swelling. I’m using the sensitive toothpaste and mouthwash and taking ibuprofen 800. It seems to believe it but I can still feel the swelling. And I will go to the dentist to see if you can give me antibiotics during the weekday. I decided to look up toothache and Ms. And I was surprised and stun to see that they could be related. Again I will wait to see if the swelling goes down and the pain dissipates. I don’t want to lose all my teeth because people mistake it incorrectly.
Yes, toothache is my bete noire too. It is one of the first indications of trouble for me. My teeth hurt when I am sickening for something like flu or when I had shingles. When I first started taking rebif, toothache was the major “flu like symptom” I had. On speaking to my dentist, he couldn’t find anything wrong with my teeth. However, he did say that as a rule of thumb, if the pain was in one tooth only and constant, then it’s likely to be the tooth. If the pain is in multiple teeth or different teeth at different times, then it’s likely to be the MS or in my case, a reaction to the drug.
Just getting over Sinus Infection and my lower teeth felt encased with cement.Doc then said not Sinuses. So eating one squishy candy made a tooth go zingers.So difficult to tell if it is my MS or stress. How to tell without going to Dentist and spending $300.00 Dollars? Kate
Hi Kate
It could be that you are suffering trigeminal neuralgia. Have a look at https://mstrust.org.uk/a-z/trigeminal-neuralgia
You’ve said that your doctor says it’s not sinuses, I assume this means your GP or family doctor rather than a neurologist. On the other thread you posted on, you said you’ve had MS for 40 years and that it’s mostly not too troublesome these days. Does this mean you don’t see a neurologist regularly?
If not, perhaps you should. Obviously, if this has to be paid for, it might put you off, but if you have insurance or if public health systems cover it, maybe you should see a neurologist now.
Sorry, I don’t know a lot about Canadian healthcare. The only thing I do know is that there’s a lot of people with MS in Canada!
Sue
It always seems that seeing a neurologist does not give me any information that would clear up any questions I might have.I have always learnt mkre from forums.Even doctors say we the MS patient know more than they do.