Ouch!

My ear/tooth/jaw hurts; the pain began several years ago. Sometimes I was just sure I had another ear infection, other times I felt like I must have a horrible cavity in one of my lower teeth...

I was hesitant to visit a dentist...about 11 years ago, while about 6 months pregnant an Army dentist managed to fulfil every horrible dental stereotype known to man.

Eventually the pain got to the point where I had no choice but to suck it up and see a dentist. I walked in telling them that I just knew I would need a root canal and pointed out which tooth was affected. They did all the X-rays and poked and prodded...the conclusion..perfect teeth, not even a cavity.

Finding out that I did not need a root canal was not as pleasant as you might think. If it was a bad tooth at least the problem would have been identified and then could be fixed. I have spent a good deal of my life being the medical mystery...fevers of unknown origin, extremely high white blood counts for no apparent reason. When I was 15 or 16 my tonsils became swollen and stayed that way for 6 months until the were eventually removed. I had every test known to man and no one ever figured out why they were enlarged and infected...antibiotics did not work. They biopsied the tonsils after removal and the lab results: "These are tonsils."

So I was not pleased to still be hurting and not know why. The dentist suggested that I see a medical doctor to have my ear checked...he also mentioned TMJ. My ear was fine and the pain continued. I decided to see a special dentist about the possibility of TMJ. The only one within an hour of my home told me that there would be a wait of several months...How about a big NO.

My Mom found me a great dentist in Birmingham, a 3 hour drive but worth every minute if I could find relief and a few answers.

Turns out it is not really TMJ but some kind of muscle thing. The dentist said that the muscles in my jaw are enormous, huge, freaky really. Through my entire visit he continued to say things like "WOW these are huge!" "Yah, you really have some muscle over here!"

God's cruel irony...the only toned well developed muscles on my body are responsible for all of the other sad ones and my "fluffy" appearance.

The dentist told me that stress is a major cause of my pain flaring up. I do not consider myself stressed. However, I woke up this morning with the inside of my cheeks torn up from grinding my teeth and a wanking bad pain in both sides of my jaw and one ear. So I am off to chuck down a few Motrin and lay on a heating pad...

That is all.