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Special Topics
Jaw, Mouth, Head and Neck Pain after Dental Treatment
You can have the best dentist in the world and the best possible treatment but still have pain afterwards.
Assuming that your teeth and gums and bite are all OK why should there be residual pain?
Bruising and swelling
Bruising from a tooth extraction or a bone implant procedure shouldn’t persist more than a week. Self treat with a cold pack as soon as the anaesthetic wears off.
Trauma due to the injection can affect the muscles and nerves
Although the pain killing injection numbs you effectively while you have treatment, it can leave the muscle quite tender for a while afterwards. This rarely causes much discomfort and usually wears off within a few days. Gentle massage and stretching is very helpful, I can teach you how to do this yourself.
Muscle fatigue from "opening wide" for a longer time than you are used to
Any treatment that takes longer than a few minutes risks overtiring the muscles that you use to hold your mouth open. The risk here is that the muscles may respond by developing trigger points which once active will refer pain indefinitely. Trigger point pain usually feels like a continual constant ache (usually without throbbing) that seems to come from one or more teeth. I can treat trigger points with acupuncture or acupressure to deactivate them.
Strain to the bones and joints of the face and jaw
Making dental impressions and positioning dental crowns are two common procedures where the dentist has to press firmly on your mouth, the vulnerable areas tend to be the upper jaw and temple areas and the upper neck muscles. Early signs of trouble include earache or a deep itching sensation in the ear, sometimes tinnitus. I can treat this with cranial osteopathy.
Strain to the neck
Be careful with the position of your head and neck while you are in the dentist’s chair: often your head is tilted backwards and turned to one side and if you are like me, you are quite likely to tense up in this position making the neck muscles quite sore afterwards. Take every opportunity to relax during treatment intervals, let your neck straighten and if possible close your mouth slightly whenever you get the chance. If despite this precaution you end up with a stiff neck or headaches, osteopathy has lots of techniques to get things back to normal.
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