Wisdom Teeth Removal Can Lead to New Daily Persistent Headache

Turning a healthy person into a New Daily Persistent Headache sufferer is easier than some people might imagine.

This is a story that makes one stop and think. Is the common-sense medical wisdom always correct or are there some exceptions?

A normal person without any particular health problem had been told by his dentist that two of his wisdom teeth were impacted. It was suggested to remove all four molars to prevent lingual nerve damage.

He, like most of us would, took the expert's opinion for granted. Made an appointment, removed the teeth, everything's fine.

The rest is in his own words:

"Two days after, I noticed an extremely painful pounding coming from inside my head. I had the most severe headache of my life and it would not go away.

I went and had the MRI done and it was found that my right maxillary sinus was completely filled. It was thought that the sinus membrane was torn during the extraction.

I was on various antibiotics while my head was pounding without any relief. I proceeded with sinus surgery to drain my sinus, two months following the removal of the wisdom teeth. I was hoping that with my sinus no longer filled with junk, my headache would go away.

A month after I had sinus surgery my head was still pounding 24/7. Eventually I ended up seeing some neurologists to attempt to find an answer to my chronic headache problem.

A possible explanation that a neurosurgeon suggested to me is that my trigeminal nerve was damaged following the extraction. This is constantly sending pain signals and causing the trigeminal nucleus in my head to be hyperactive."

So, that's one way to become a chronic daily headache patient. Easy, painful, unnecessary.

This person is, however, refusing to suffer quiet-like. He does not want others to go down the same road. To share his experience he created a website, complete with forums, educational material, a blog, the whole thing.

There's plenty of reading on TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Syndrome), the actual procedure of wisdom teeth extraction surgery, controversy behind this particular operation, myths about it and more.

He went through a lot of treatment for his headaches and made sure to document it. His opinions might not be common-sense but they sure do make sense to those who read them.

Does make one wonder, doesn't it? Our goal is to reduce our headaches, not to compound them and yet things like this are probably more common-place than one would think.

My gentle readers, if anyone had a similar experience, please do share. And if you are planning to have your wisdom teeth pulled, you might want to read up on that first.

link: teethremoval.com