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What Causes Severe Pain In Mouth While Treating A Jaw Infection?

Posted on Wed, 11 May 2016

Question: I have an infection in my jaw, I've been on antibiotics for 2 weeks now and tomorrow is my last day for the antibiotics. the side the infection is on still hurts extremely bad and I can hardly open my mouth bc it feels like my jaw is locked. now the other side on my jaw is hurting extremely bad. I was wondering if the infection is worse?
Also my chest has been hurting the past few days and gets worse with deep breaths. when I woke up this morning my ribs hurt extremely bad, it feels like someone beat me in my sleep. do you think I should go to emergency room or what should I do?

Answered by Dr. Honey Arora (38 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Might be due to tooth infection or jaw joint problems..

Detailed Answer:
Hi..
Welcome to HEALTHCARE MAGIC..

I have gone through your query and can understand your concerns..

As per your complain you have symptoms of pain in jaw along with pain on opening the mouth and feeling of locked jaw.
The other symptoms are chest pain on taking deep breath and pain in the ribs..

Lets take the problems one by one:

1. The pain in jaw and difficulty in opening mouth along with locking of the jaw can be due to causes like severe tooth infection, Pericoronitis [Inflammation of gum flap surrounding wisdom tooth], while can also be due to jaw joint dysfunction..

Kindly answer the following questions so that I can guide you better.

1. Is the pain in the lower jaw only only it is in the area infront of the ear or inside the ear too?
2. Is the pain continuous or occurs on opening and closing the mouth or chewing?
3. Is there any swelling present?
4. Is there any clicking sound?
5. Do you have erupting or erupted wisdom teeth in lower jaw?
6. Does the pain increase on lying down?
7. Did you take any painkiller for it and if yes, did the pain subside?

Now the second part of the query:
Pain in ribs along with chest pain on deep breathing commonly occurs due to inflammation of the lining of the lungs known a Pleura leading to Pleurisy..
It needs to be evaluated by a Pulmonologist and he can advise you investigations like chest x ray, complete blood picture, chest ultrasound etc..
An appropriate treatment can be instilled only after the diagnosis is confirmed..

Kindly revert back with the answers..

Hope this information helps..

Thanks and regards.
Dr.Honey Nandwani Arora.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Sonia Raina

Follow up: Dr. Honey Arora (57 minutes later)

yes the pain is in the lower jaw only, it doesn't bother my ear at all. the pain in continuous but gets worth when I open my mouth or try to eat. so far there is no swelling and no clicking sound. I don't have any wisdom teeth coming in on the bottom. the pain increases a lot when I lay down. I've tried taking excedrine and Advil but it's not helped the pain whatsoever!

Answered by Dr. Honey Arora (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Needs investigations and evaluation..

Detailed Answer:
Hi..
Thanks for the reply..

As per your answers, it seems like the pain is either related to any deeply decayed tooth that is radiating to the entire side of the jaw or due to jaw joint problems..
You need to consult an Oral Physician and get evaluated and a thorough clinical evaluation and investigations like full mouth x ray known as Orthopantomogram can help in ruling out the exact cause of the pain and treatment can be done accordingly..
As of now I will suggest painkillers like Ibuprofen and muscle relaxant like Chlorzoxasone for relief..
You can also do cool compresses over the jaw..
Take a soft diet and avoid excess mouth opening..

Wishing you a good health..

Thanks and regards.
Dr.Honey Nandwani Arora..

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad