Should I be worried?

[foggymind]

Hi

I have been experiencing pain on the bottom right hand side of my mouth for about two weeks, it started out as nothing major just a minor annoyance also some of my teeth have felt like they are crushed together. I would wake up at night and the pain would be worse and I would need painkillers. When I woke up in the morning the pain would be back but after I got up and moved around it would slowly die away and not need pain killers.

I went to my dentist on Friday and after some tests (air over teeth, feeling jaw, tapping and x ray) where she could not find anything wrong she put it down to grinding my teeth at night and that I should manage it with pain killers and a soft diet, she also said I should come back in a month if it still hurts.

However over the weekend the pain has increased and has become more focused, I now have a tender part of my jaw, two teeth hurt when tapped and I have a numb feeling in part of my jaw and bottom lip.

Is this the healing process or should I be worried she missed something?

 

[honestdoc]

I would recommend a custom bite (night) guard. I wear one myself every night. I would wear it during the day because I find myself grinding and clenching when I drive to and from work. The one I wear is a hard acrylic on the outside and slightly softer acrylic on the inside. This will protect your teeth as well as your TMJ. According to experts, your teeth only touch 20 minutes a day including all meals and function. Your teeth should be about 0.5 cm/ 0.25 inches apart at rest.