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A few weeks ago, I had some tooth pain on a tooth. My tooth had a mercury filling. As I was planning on switching out that filling anyway, I scheduled an appointment. The dentist replaced the filling but didn’t see a problem. I’m still having pain but now it is radiating to my ear. I went to an ear doctor who said that the ear was clear. I called my doctor and he said it sounds to him like I have a salivary gland stone. I’m of the feeling that it is a dental problem. What do you think?
Susan
Dear Susan,
I am sorry you are going through this. Bear in mind that I have not examined you, but based on what you are saying, I think calling it a salivary gland stone is a bit of a cop out for your doctor. While it is true that you can get calcifications inside your salivary gland ducts, the pain is wrong. It would not radiate to your ear. Instead, the pain would be in the soft tissue of the salivary duct.
Your body has a couple of salivary ducts under your tongue and one in the middle of each of your cheeks. A stone doesn’t always cause pain, but it would cause swelling and should show up on an x-ray.
I’m of the feeling that your problem is a toothache. I would start by looking at the tooth which recently had the filling replaced. You may even want to have it checked by a different dentist than the one who did the filling in order to get a second opinion. If it is a toothache, you do not want to leave it untreated. Otherwise, it would lead to a dental emergency. If the tooth is infected, you can still save it by having a root canal treatment done.
This blog is brought to you by Baton Rouge Dentist Dr. John Theriot.