Chronic Pain

my wife has constant facial pain both sides between nose to ear mainly on cheek area. This has been going on for many years. It feels like a pulling,tight feeling all in the front of the face.
She has been to 3 or 4 suposed TMJ experts? and has had many bite splints with little to no relief.
Her famly doctor has done all kinds of tests thru the years. She has just started to take Nueronten. I have been tring to get her to see a Nerologist.
Latest test is a ct scan of her sinus which shows normal.
She uses ice packs several times a day.
Any input on these symptons.

Hi,
I'm sorry to hear that your wife is in pain. Thank you for trying to find information for her. I am sure she really appreciates you helping out!

Has she been to see an oral surgeon? Has she had an MRI or CT of the jaw joints (not the sinus or brain)? If so, who read the imaging, and what were the results?

To me, these symptoms sound like TMJ disorder. Please take a look at the list of symptoms here:
http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/tmj-38544-5.html

Do those symptoms sound familiar?
I hope she is feeling better and please let us know if there are any questions we can answer.
Sincerely,
Stacy

Thanks for the reply.
I can't rely tell you exactly what she has had done. My hopes are to get her involved in these responses. Here is what I know.
1) Has seen a few different dentist ine which labled himself a TMJ specialist.
2) has had a few different splints. With little to no pain relief.
No wear marks on splints. She may have grinded her teeth years ago but I dont think anymore.
3) She has no poping or clicking.
4)Bite alignment seems to be ok.
5) Has had a sinus xray recently by primary care provider showing mild sinitus.
6) I convinced her to go to a nurologist for possible fiber mialga (bad spelling) which apt is next week.
This may be more than one problem? who knows.
I'm just glad to see her go elsewhere for treatment. This has been 10 plus years with same primary care dr., dam stubborn woman.
Mr.

I noticed you said your wife has an appointment with a neurologist to see if she has fibromyalgia. I hope he/she is able to help you, but if not please try a rheumatologist. Although recent research has found that fibromyalgia is a neurological problem, many neurologists do not know much about it nor are they willing to treat it. For now at least, it is primarily rheumatologists that diagnose and treat fibromyalgia.

I can tell you that if her pain is only in the facial area, she doesn't have fibromyalgia. One of the diagnostic criteria is that the patient have pain in all four quadrants of the body. Please read: "Fibromyalgia Diagnosis"

Has she ever been to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist? Since you said her pain is from the nose to the ears and mainly in the cheek area, an ENT is probably your best bet.

Please let us know what you find out and how she is doing.

An update
My neuro appt is Monday. whats happened is I went to Dunhams sporting goods and bought a self forming mouth guard. One that actualy forms to your mouth. Its soft not hard like one's the dentists have been giving me It has provided overnight relief from 50% of the pain but not all. I feel that I've been clenching my teeth at night not grinding.
Still going to Neuro apt.
Mrs. painful