Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD)

[dlp]

I am wondering if anyone has had this same problem...I have RSD/CRPS body wide. Started in my arm in 1998 after an auto accident and heriniated disc. Have taken numerous meds and had numerous blocks. Currently, and over the last 3 years I have only been on high dose Methadone. Two years ago I began having problems with my teeth, root canals, cavaties. It is at the point that every tooth in my mouth has had or still needs a root canal. I never had such problems before and until recently I barely had 4-5 filings and 1 root canal. I have talked with the dentist and he says it is not the Methadone, although it is hard to believe... Anyone out there have a similar complaint?

[RSDgal]

I would love to help you solve your mystery. I am a dental hygienist who, bad for me but good for you, is having a hell of a time with RSD too. I have had it now for 1.5 years now. So let me ask you a couple of questions and then we'll go on from there. Nothing is meant to insult you by any means. It's just that without you in front of me, with your mouth to look in....well? you get the picture.

First off: What are you able to do? How limiting is your RSD?
2nd: Are you able to provide yourself with home care? ie; brushing/flossing, etc..?
3rd: Where was your point of injury?
4th: What other meds are you taking?
5th: Silly, I know...but are you "otherwise healthy"? ( I too laugh at this...just looking for clues, OK?)
6th Do you clench or grind your teeth? Or have any other oral habits in conjunction with..perhaps when you are in pain?

Let's start there and I will do a little research from my end on Methadone. OK?

We are friends in hell together.

{Hugs}
K

[dlp]

Hi, thanks for responding. My point of injury was a car accident that injured my neck with RSD initially taking my left arm now encompassing my entire body. I am 51 and before getting this thing i was a nurse. ( I guess i still am, I just can't work in a formal setting) I always had good dental health until 2 years into my RSD. Currently i am only on Methadone, at very high doses, and Klonipin for sleep. I had been on neurontin, dilantin, flexeril, oxycodone, and a few others that were tried for short periods of time. I don't mind sharing more information with you about my doses of meds however I don't think I want the world to know. I am going to give you my email address, i don't know if you'll get it but if you do I can give you specifics that way. [moderator note: e-mail address has been removed]
As far as brushing and flossing, I brush 2-3 times a day and floss 3-4 times a day. I do grind my teeth and I have TMJ due to all this stuff also. My opening is only one finger width. I have been told when I sleep I do not move at all but I do verbalize a lot while asleep. I do not snore, so I am told. I believe I do have a moderate amount of periodontal disease at this point as my gums seem to have recessed quit a bit. The problem I have is that every time I am at the dentist I am there for a root canal or emergency procedure that has thrown my costs way up and I have not been able to take care of routine care. I now have about 5 teeth that I believe from symptoms need root canals. I have had 5 other root canals in the last year and a half. The last dentist I was at two months ago did a root canal on one of my "eye" teeth and he broke it. I can't believe I have about 8,000.00 in work that I need with of course no insurance. I was just wondering if Methdaone has had any association with dental problems. I know DIlantin can cause problems but I was only on that for a year. Any suggestions would be helpful as I don't want to get all these teeth fixed to find out that things are just going to get worse do to the RSD or meds. I am trying to make the choice between the cheaper denture route or biting the bullet to have all the dental procedures to keep my natural teeth. Oh and yes I am other wise "healthy" I used to smoke, quite 5 years ago, I do not chew gum, and don't clench during the day.
Of course I cannot close without wishing you good days with your srtuggle. I can not believe the scope of this disease. i would never have thought I would 've gotten this as I have a very high pain threshold. It just goes to show how insidious this RSD can be. I hope you are in early stages...I keep waiting for a little miracle... Thanks for answering this post and I would hug you back but I would not want to hurt you....haha ...thanks Dona

[stl_val]

Hi, just read your post and I am on methadone also. YES, to your question, it has rotted almost all of my teeth.The rotting didnt start until I started the methadone and it happened preety fast.
I got RSD after hurting my back at work in 2003, I had to have a fusion and when the symptoms first started the dr kept telling me that it wasnt because of the surgery. Ha the ass knew what was wrong but being a workmans comp case and afraid I would sue him he wouldnt tell me what was wrong with me. After all the go round with pain management and wc a specialist actually said it was rsd type two. not that that ever was wriiten in any report. oh well sorry off the subject. yes the methadone can and does do a number on your teeth.
Bright blessings to you

[dlp]

Hi, thanks for reading and answering. Have you had a dentist tell you there was a direct case and effect relationship between Methadone and rotten teeth, or did you just put the two things together like I have done? I would like to get more info on this and send some wrnings out to others, but not too many have replied to my post so i don't know how high the incident seems to be. Let me know if your dentist said anything or if you got this information from someplace in particular. thanks and good luck to you...dlp

[tmybaby44]

I am wondering if anyone has had this same problem...I have RSD/CRPS body wide. Started in my arm in 1998 after an auto accident and heriniated disc. Have taken numerous meds and had numerous blocks. Currently, and over the last 3 years I have only been on high dose Methadone. Two years ago I began having problems with my teeth, root canals, cavaties. It is at the point that every tooth in my mouth has had or still needs a root canal. I never had such problems before and until recently I barely had 4-5 filings and 1 root canal. I have talked with the dentist and he says it is not the Methadone, although it is hard to believe... Anyone out there have a similar complaint?

I was told last year I had RSD CPRS I had a work injury in 2004 of which wasn't taken care of right, I never heard of it before, and yes I have dental problems my teeth are falling out, this Rsds is dreadful, so your not alone.

[tandm]

Hello dlp. I'm new to this site but I'm VERY familiar with RSD and "teeth issues"!!! First off let me say, I'm SO very sorry for all that you're going through. Probably like you, I been crying non stop due to all of the problems with my teeth. Not as if the RSD isn't bad enough, but having X amounts of root canals or teeth pulled has really hit me hard!!! I've had RSD for over 8 yrs now and like you, I didn't have any dental issues until I was put on one certain med. I'm on Fentanyl suckers. Sure, they help me out with my pain, in a big way but what this medication has done to my teeth has been horrible. Because it's a narcotic, just like Methodone... it HAS TO BE the root of your dental problems (no pun intended). We just realized two weeks ago that I have dry mouth and it's the suckers that's causing my dry mouth. What my dentist told me was... having dry mouth is like fertalizer to a lawn,, it just makes cavities grow at such as faster rate!! Like you, when I first started seeing the dentist, I only needed to have cavities filled but because of the dry mouth, they quickly turned into root canals. At this point, I've lost 3 teeth :( and one being the strongest tooth we have in our mouth according to my dentist... the K-9 tooth. Now that we know that it's the Fentanyl suckers that are causing my dry mouth in which the dry mouth is causing me to grow cavities at alarming rates, we now can come up with a plan to delete this problem. My pain Dr. is going to prescribe me a RX that will help me with the dry mouth. My question to you is... do you have dry mouth? You would think that a person would notice this right? Well, I didn't. It took me years to realize that I did and in fact it was my dentist who was the first one to notice this in me as I was talking to her. If you do have dry mouth, I would suggest that you talk to your dentist about this and ask he or she "what" would having dry mouth do to your teeth. You should most likey get the same answer as I did. Now if we look at this in another way it too would make sense. Methadone is basically legalized Herion (hope I spelled that right) and those who are addicted to Herion DO tend to lose their teeth. Even someone who's using Meth will lost their teeth. See where I'm going with this? Makes sense doesn't it? I hope this helps you out.

I have a question for anyone out there who's going through what I'm dealing with as of right now. Since I've lost 3 teeth, my options now are 1. have them put in a "permanet dental plant" (fake tooth of course) or 2. have them put a partial mouth piece which I take to mean, like dentures. I would like to know if anyone out there knows if putting a permanet tooth/teeth into my jaw bones would cause me further problems such as... spreading of the RSD into my mouth???? I heard this once before but I'm not sure if the info I got was accurate. ANY HELP you can give me on this question would be greatly appreciated!!!! The sooner the better however because I have to decide soon, like within the next two weeks!! I'm scared, I'm embarrassed and I just can't stop crying. RSD has ROBBED me of SOOOOO MUCH but the one thing I didn't think it could take away from me was my teeth!!!!! I'm sorry, I don't mean to upset anyone here but I just had to get that out....

My prayers are with those of you who suffer from this horrible disease. XOXOXOXOXOXOXO Peace

[dlp]

Thanks for your input. Yes I have had dry mouth. ANd now that you mention this, this may indeed be the cause of all the dental problems. I should've guessed this as I am also a nurse, but I don't do teeth, just the rest of the body. It makes sense though as all narcotics have a tendency to dry ones mouth out. What your dentist told you about dry mouth being a bed for dental caries makes the picture complete. I also have faced the choice of tooth tooth transplant, or bridge. I did not chooses the transpalnt as there is high failure rate, or I should clarify... this is what I was told. I don't know if the odds improved over the last few years, but when I was making the decision I didn't like the odd/cost ratio. As far as developing RSD at this site no one knows....I can tell you that acute pain is very different from the chronic pain we face daily. I have had major surgery since I have had my RSD and recovered quite quickly and completely from that pain. Good luck to you.

[pappy]

I do not have RSD but I have a different chronic pain disorder that I take metadone for and I have NEVER had a cavity or ANY problems with my teeth, they have been perfect. Well not anymore, I have had to have 2 root canals and some work on my teeth and my pain DR. told me in was a direct result of my pain meds ( I have been on them for 6 years, methadone for 2). So yes I think your pain meds are the reason for your teeth problems. However, you and I both know that until GOD decides to heal you, you truly need your pain meds. Please don't go off them.

[dlp]

thanks for your input. I wonder why my pain docs never mentioned this...It would have been nice to know at an earlier stage as I may have been able to prevent some of my problems with aggressive dental care. I never had a problem with my teeth prior so I was not as careful with the 6 month checks and all. I wish you luck..Keep on top of your teeth problem as it may only get worse. Someone answered my post and mentioned that a dry mouth and mouth breathing can be a hot bed for bacteria. If your dentist can suggest a product for night use I would bet it would help. I have got to get back to mine to get some advice, however with the amount of work I need I am afraid to even step foot in his office. Good luck to you, and I hope your pain condition will have an end in site.