Pain between two amalgam fillings on gums - radiates... (teeth, hurt, molars)

[lmw36]

Just as a precursor, I am making an appointment with a dentist here tomorrow for a cleaning and to check up on this issue. Just thought I'd get a little insight before I go to stop me from worrying my pants off.

So basically, i was a dumb girl and had bulimia for around 4 years during college. I went to the dentist this past year (started going regularly again!) and had several old fillings replaced, several new ones, and a perio scaling and planing.

On my second cleaning with my old dentist (i went twice with her, I moved states), she had told me I had "bone loss of the jaw". This was AFTER all the extensive work I had done with her, which was hours of holding my mouth open in the chair. I had never experienced jaw pain before. Months after I have moved states, I now am experiencing some slight jaw pain persistent with TMJ. It's nothing to write home about, but definitely not something I experienced until I had all of this dental work done.

Is it possible that I clench my teeth at night? Could my dentist have caused this breakdown in bone by misaligning my jaw during these procedures? I don't have unusual headaches. Any jaw clenchers have any insight as to how you can tell? This leads into my next snippet...

I have all amalgam fillings, as they are appropriate for my surfaces, and they last longer. However, I have two amalgam fillings on two separate teeth that just happen to touch. Like they are towards the side of the tooth, and look like they touch. I had these fillings in late april '12. I have suddenly noticed that whenever I floss, I get excruciating pain, and sometimes the pain wakes me at night, which is odd. It's a dull pain. I thought I just damaged it flossing, so I was doing saltwater rinse (which helped), but my gums seem to be angry. It's not a sharp pain, but a dull one that is noticable at night especially.

So basically I'm asking:

Could my dentist have caused this by her extensive hours of work on my mouth?
How do you tell you clench your jaw at night?
Anyone have experience with this strange dull pain that only appears in the gums?

Sorry it's long winded. I feel it's related to my recent work since it was less than 6 months ago. Returning to the dentist is out of question since I've moved states. Thanks

[AnonChick]

You won't know the answers to your questions until you go to a dentist.

COULD this be the result of the dental work done on you? Yes. Is it likely? No. The more likely scenario, is that you had underlying problems building up and by fixing one problem, the other problem was exposed.

An analogy, to make it easier for you to understand how that's possible:

My husband brought his car to get an oil change. It hadn't been done in awhile, it was significantly overdue (by over a year, back when you would get your oil changed every 3 months because you used regular, and not synthetic oil).

So they did the oil change, did an engine flush because it was so gunked up, cleaned the engine as well.

When hubby got to the shop to pick up the car, he went to start the engine and billowing black smoke came out the back.

WTH!!!

Turns out, there were dozens of pinholes in the engine that had been accululating over the years as a result of neglecting to keep his engine clean. And because they were plugged up with filthy oil and gunk, they never showed any symptoms at all. UNTIL the engine was cleaned.

He had to buy a new engine - so he bought a used one from a scrapyard - and -that- engine was faulty so he had to wait for another one, and they told him the second replacement would cost more because it was in better shape. So he told them to keep the keys to the car, and he went out and bought a new car from a dealer.

Moral of the story:

Maintainence prevents a world of hurt. Your bulimia is the likely culprit for ALL of this, but layers upon layers of problems patched each other and supported each other, masking the symptoms. Once some of the layers peeled back, the rest of the problems revealed themselves.

But you won't know for sure, until you see a dentist.

[lmw36]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

You won't know the answers to your questions until you go to a dentist.

COULD this be the result of the dental work done on you? Yes. Is it likely? No. The more likely scenario, is that you had underlying problems building up and by fixing one problem, the other problem was exposed.

An analogy, to make it easier for you to understand how that's possible:

My husband brought his car to get an oil change. It hadn't been done in awhile, it was significantly overdue (by over a year, back when you would get your oil changed every 3 months because you used regular, and not synthetic oil).

So they did the oil change, did an engine flush because it was so gunked up, cleaned the engine as well.

When hubby got to the shop to pick up the car, he went to start the engine and billowing black smoke came out the back.

WTH!!!

Turns out, there were dozens of pinholes in the engine that had been accululating over the years as a result of neglecting to keep his engine clean. And because they were plugged up with filthy oil and gunk, they never showed any symptoms at all. UNTIL the engine was cleaned.

He had to buy a new engine - so he bought a used one from a scrapyard - and -that- engine was faulty so he had to wait for another one, and they told him the second replacement would cost more because it was in better shape. So he told them to keep the keys to the car, and he went out and bought a new car from a dealer.

Moral of the story:

Maintainence prevents a world of hurt. Your bulimia is the likely culprit for ALL of this, but layers upon layers of problems patched each other and supported each other, masking the symptoms. Once some of the layers peeled back, the rest of the problems revealed themselves.

But you won't know for sure, until you see a dentist.

I'm completely aware my bulimia was the culprit for most of my problems, hence why I am open about it with my dentists and go through/went through a lot of work to fix the problem. I'm just curious about anyones experience (especially with amalgam), and it's always good to ask others opinions about their treatments. I have never had amalgam fillings, and since my last visit was actually only THREE months ago (checked the dates, my mind is hazy) I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with leaky amalgam fillings, since symptoms can present themselves later. I was just wondering what that pain felt like.

I understand I won't KNOW until I go to the dentist. Hence why I'm going, but I can't get in til Saturday. I'm religious about my twice a year visits, and more if need be.

Thanks, but it doesn't look like anyone with leaky amalgam can tell me if this is similar to their pain. Rrrr.

[AnonChick]

Amalgams are a few different materials that combine to form a soft solid. You won't get anyone responding about leaky amalgams, because amalgams don't leak.

The only fillings I've ever had that were -not- amalgam, were the fillings for the posts of 2 of my root canals. Those were non-metal composites. All the other fillings, including the 3 cavities I've had, were amalgam. I had those cavities cleaned and filled back when I was a young teenager, maybe 12 or 13 or 14 years old? Something like that. I'm now 51. Two of those cavities are intact, and those two teeth are intact, and in good shape, with no sign of wear or needing to be replaced. The other had to be shaved down to serve as an anchor for a bridge.

[lmw36]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

Amalgams are a few different materials that combine to form a soft solid. You won't get anyone responding about leaky amalgams, because amalgams don't leak.

http://www.lomiredental.com/PDFs/res...ia_fai_ama.pdf

It's an expression.

[AnonChick]

Ah okay - the leakage of bacteria when the filling pulls away from or breaks away from the tooth. It's actually less likely to happen with an amalgam than with a composite resin filling. Amalgams are much more durable. But they aren't as asthetically pleasing and don't make very good-looking fillings for front teeth or the "front" side of molars.

I'd worry much more about composite filling problems, since they are much more likely to occur. Generally though, neither are likely to pose any problem for at least 5 years. After that, the likelihood increases first for composite (around 7-8 years) and then to amalgam (between 12-15 years).

But some people never have any problems at all, regardless of how long they've had the filling.