Dental reaction

[long time dry]

Has anyone else had a big inflammatory reaction to dental work?  In January I had an implant surgery with a sinus lift and had a lot of pain and swelling as a result.  It felt as painful as having shingles again for the first week and then began to subside.  I discussed it with my rheumy and he thought my guess that it was a big inflammatory reaction was correct.

Yesterday I had to have a new crown made for another tooth and had a lot of pain and swelling last night.  It's a lot better now, but these things never happened to me before and I've had Sjogren's for years.  I'm wondering if this is a new norm for me.

[LadyDi]

I absolutely always have a "flare" after a dental visit. It doesn't matter if it is just a cleaning or if I have a tooth filled.

I think that it is the invasive action of having the gums and teeth picked at and scraped etc. I also think the fact of holding the mouth open for such a long period of time irritates the major salivary glands.

This is just a conclusion that I have drawn myself. I go for my next visit on June 1st and I am bracing myself for a flare.

[Sooki]

There are a lot of bacteria around the teeth.  Having them cleaned and other operations can mobilize some of these and put them into your GI tract.  I usually rinse with a strong salt solution when I get home.  Stress is another factor that can worsen Sjs symptoms

Another thing is the anesthetic used.  I just had two fillings put in.  I had to have a lot of lidocaine-type anesthetic because I have an extra nerve in my jaw and the gumline fillings were sitting right on a nerve.  A week later, I had my routine 3-month liver tests and they were slightly elevated.  Two weeks later, they had gone back down to normal.  I'm thinking my poor old bod freaked out at all the anesthesia and overworked my liver.

[cargillwitch]

yes, sure have! and recently.

I had a filling replaced and within a week  I could barely open my jaw and  had  parotitis for about 10 days ( excruciating!)

As I couldn't wear my night guard I ended up grinding my teeth so bad at night i popped out another filling and needed a root canal.

The three hour root canal almost did my poor jaw and salivary glands in.

they have just started to settle down, but i am not looking forward to getting even routine work done now- any poking around in there and I seem to flare.

[A66eyroad]

There are two kinds of novicaine the dentist can use, one with and one without epinephrine.

The epinephrine helps the novicaine to work better, but it wreaks havoc with me!  It makes my heart beat like mad, and gets me all shaky.  And, for crying out loud, I'm at the dentist office so I'm already a nervous wreck!

That's why I ask him to shoot me with the stuff without the epi.  He'll have to give me more than one shot, but it doesn't make me so freaky.

Also, I take a couple of ibuprofen or naproxin before I go in to keep the inflammation down.

Also, the doc having to shoot you with novicaine will cause inflamation.  Well, duh, right?  He's sticking a needle in your gums!  But not only that, friends and neighbors, but the fact that he's injecting stuff in there will also cause more inflammation.  The juice he's shooting in there will take up space in between cells and cause an inflammation reaction.

That's why I'm neurotic about keeping my mouth super clean.  I brush and floss and rinse and spit.  I have my cleanings like clockwork.

[long time dry]

Thanks for your very interesting responses.  I may ask for the non-epinephine in the future.  Sadly, I can't use ibuprofen.  I've tried several brands in case the problem is with the fillers and binders but that doesn't seem to be the answer.  Any brand of ibuprofen gives me a severe headache to go along with whatever I'm dealing with.  If I don't take the ibuprofen, I don't get a headache.  Drives me nuts!

[slccom]

Thanks for your very interesting responses.  I may ask for the non-epinephine in the future.  Sadly, I can't use ibuprofen.  I've tried several brands in case the problem is with the fillers and binders but that doesn't seem to be the answer.  Any brand of ibuprofen gives me a severe headache to go along with whatever I'm dealing with.  If I don't take the ibuprofen, I don't get a headache.  Drives me nuts!

When I was much younger, I took Excedrin for cramps. I soon developed a splitting Excedrin headache! I never took the stuff again.
Sharon

[hoosierneals]

Oh, heck yes.  In fact, when I recently got my SJ dx my dentist said that explains a lot.  Every time he works on me the last several years I

have crazy, disproportional pain to whatever it was.  That lasts...and lasts....and lasts.  Pretty much every time he has had to give me vicodin,

high dose anti-inflammatories, and usually eventually steroids to get things to calm down.  We used to think it was because my sinus cavity

getting irritated because mine runs right up to my rootline.  Now we know, my paratoid gets seriously pissed off.  I typically get swelling which

goes away and comes back off and on- and strong pain running up toward my ear, and then down below my ear. 

For example- last Thursday I had the screw put in for an implant (self-destructing teeth, hello).  I finally broke down last night (Tues.) and took

the steroids because I was still such a mess I had to miss a dinner I was supposed to go to. Today is better, but still not gone.