EXCRUCIATING tooth/face/ear pain- no idea what it could be!

[Soreface]

Had the strangest thing last night and no idea what it could be. I had a few niggling pains in my tooth over the last couple of days, but nothing particularly terrible and it was only brief.

Last night I ate a late dinner due to work, brushed my teeth like normal and then went to bed. At no point did my face or tooth hurt at all.

I woke up a couple of hours later with what I can only describe as being the worst pain I’ve ever felt. I couldn’t point exactly which tooth hurt, it felt as if all of them (upper left) were throbbing and my gums hurt to press. When I pressed my tongue against all my teeth, I could feel one was slightly more painful than the rest- this tooth has a filling. My cheekbone area was really painful and my left ear and jaw were both throbbing too- it actually woke me up from a sleep and I thought I was going to throw up with it. I took paracetamol and made a hot water bottle to try and hold against it but neither really helped. The whole left side of my face hurt when my mouth was both open and closed, when I closed my teeth together and even when I just left it alone.

I’ve never sobbed with pain so much in all my life and considered calling NHS24, but it was during the night and I have an important day at work today so I thought I’d try and work through it with painkillers and maybe see a dentist on Wednesday. I was probably up for an hour or so and then somehow fell back asleep.

I’m not sure how relevant this is but I popped a whitehead spot (I know I shouldn’t have but it’s so hard to ignore them!) just before going to bed, and it was sitting right on my left cheekbone, although this wouldn’t account for the tooth and ear pain besides my tooth had been slightly painful on and off leading up to this.

I woke up today expecting a long day of it being excruciating (I thought maybe an abscess) but it has been absolutely fine and the paracetamol from during the night will have well worn off by now. It doesn’t hurt to touch my face at all, my teeth don’t hurt and my ear is fine. There’s no throbbing pain anywhere on the left side of my face and it doesn’t feel any different to the right. I expected with an abscess I would be climbing the walls with pain today!

What the heck could this be?!

Trigeminal neuralgia?

Should add. It comes out of nowhere, feels like someone’s smashed a hammer at my teeth and drops me to the floor - 5 minutes later, you’d never know.

I get this and it’s a jaw issue - TMJ. You may find it a bit of a problem in that your gp will have a look in your ear and if no infection will just tell you to go to the dentist. Once they have ruled out any ear and tooth issue then they really should be looking at referred jaw pain (most common cause of referred ear pain). I asked for a referral to a maxilofacial specialist after speaking with a doctor friend. Still have the condition but it’s much much better now.

Definitely worth checking out trigeminal neuralgia. I had this and it is the worst pain ever. Terrifyingly agonising. There are medications available so please get to your gp

Sinusitis?

Trigeminal neuralgia. Worse than unmedicated labour and can hit out of the blue. GP can prescribe meds but will want your dentist to rule out dental issues first.

Could be sinusitis. I have been getting horrendous sinus headaches recently, exactly as you describe. I think permanently having colds one after the other for the last few months has just ravaged my sinuses and they’ve given up!

Again, I'd say it's trigeminal neuralgia or a TMJ or sinus issue. Get yourself checked out by a GP.

My first thought on reading initial post was trigeminal neuralgia. My GP also said it was the worst pain ever - worse than childbirth

I had this when my filling fell out. Have you checked that yours is still there and hasn't cracked?

I had this and it was sinusitis, my whole left side of my jaw was agony and my gums were inflamed. It was awful and painkillers didn’t help. I was given strong antibiotics and it sorted it within a week

aerobic and anerobic dental infection?

I had this from a cracked tooth under crown spread to upper teeth, chin, cheek and sinuses.

Was prescribed Amoxycillin and Metranizadole together.

I am so grateful because no painkillers including codeine touched it.

One more vote for trigeminal neuralgia. The GP laughed when I said it was worse pain than childbirth but it truly was. hope you’re ok OP

It sounds like an absces that has drained overnight. I used to regularly have this with an impacted wisdom tooth niggley pain on and off for a week or two then excruciating pain in my ear jaw and face until it popped and then nothing for weeks until it started the cycle again. This went on for almost 2 years until I made it to the top of the hospital waiting list (dentist couldn't remove it herself).
If you have a slow filling abscess that is self draining the sooner you see a dentist the better

I get this and it’s from clenching my teeth in my sleep and from nerve issues after my wisdom tooth removal.

My mum had this and turned out to be shingles affecting the nerve in her jaw!

I had something similar the filling was close to the nerve which died off creating an abscess/ infection underneath. I had odd thingy pains but nothing awful then bam. Headaches, facial paralysis on one side, felt like I’d been punched in face. Photophobia in eye. The nerves on that side of my head became inflamed and it spiralled. I was admitted to hospital twice mri, ct scan, lumbar puncture, every blood test under the sun. What helped was a long term antibiotics and anti inflammatories then a root canal fixed everything.

I’d get to the dentist sooner rather than later

I'd see the dentist as my first stop. This description is very similar to what I experienced with a dental abscess last year.

I've been having this, I've put it down to TMJ, I've been clenching my jaw alot due to stress presumably. I take a couple of pain killers before bed. My jaw aches day to day, almost feels like sensitive teeth or sinus pain. Which at first I thought it was. I can't visit a dentist as I don't have one and I live abroad and just can't bear to go through it all. I did speak to a family member who was previously a dental nurse and she thinks it's TMJ too.

Just to add, my stress levels will improve this week (hearing about a new job) so I'll give it a few weeks to settle down and then I'll investigate if it's not cleared up.

Sinusitis. I have chronic sinusitis, only antibiotics treat a flare up for me. I had an operation last year and nothing since after suffering for 5 years. Pain was immobilising and indescribable.

I had similar, it was an abscess. Awful!

Trigeminal neuralgia. I get it and it's excruciating.

Trigeminal neuralgia. I take neurological meds for mine and it helps! Hope you feel better soon