I'm baffled--can't figure out if I got injured working dish or have a tooth problem

[mbyron]

I, too, had an non-routine ("emergency") visit to the dentist this week, also because I thought #14 was causing me pain. It turned out in my case to be #12, and it also turned out not to be decay, fracture, infection, or any of the standard causes. I did not have swelling or such severe pain that I took anything for it.

My dentist noticed that my bite wasn't quite correct, and "adjusted" it by filing down some parts of my molars that should not have been making contact when I bite. His theory was that the pain was the result of what he called "bruising" of the tooth socket, which would not have shown up on x-ray or examination.

So far, it feels better, though not completely. I too have wondered whether a shot to the mask was the origin of the injury.

And I use the same mask as UMP25. Hmmm.

[treydawgmt]

I work fulltime in Fire/EMS, and have worked in hospitals. This means I am clearly NOT an expert in anything (! we are jacks of all trades, masters of none) but my experience in infections is antibiotics usually take right around 48 hours to begin having a good effect. If your pain was gone the same day or next as taking the antibiotic, that leads me to believe it was related to something else. Just please don't ask me what that something else is!

[pob14]

When I had shingles a couple of years ago, the pain started like a toothache. I went to the dentist first.

I'm not saying you have shingles (you'd probably have an obvious rash, and the pain wouldn't be gone yet), but I am saying there's a possibility of something wrong in the nerve itself. Go see a regular doctor.

[UMP25]

I happened to see my regular doctor about something else, and he checked out my mouth. He personally believes it looks more like a slight internal bruise from the foul ball hit.

BTW, all pain disappeared a few days ago, and everything is back to normal--all this without a re-root canal.