Q: I had a root canal done on the lower right molar approximately three weeks ago. The doctor had great difficulty numbing the tooth and resorted to drilling the tooth and numbing the nerve directly, which was extremely painful. Since then I get pain and experience pressure in my jaws, ear, head and neck. This runs down the underside of my arm and into my hand. There is numbness in my face, lips, and fingers on that side as well along with a general sick feeling like muscle aches, weakness, dizziness, light headedness, inability to concentrate, etc. The root canal was to be completed 4 days ago but I opted to have the tooth extracted instead, hoping this would solve the problems, but it hasn't. My dentist too is at a loss as to why this is happening. I went to the hospital to find out what was wrong. But the x-rays, CAT scan and blood work showed nothing. What could possibly be wrong?

A:Acute infection in the root canal area can give rise to severe pain, which radiates to the whole jaw, ear, head & sometimes the neck. However, in your case the offending tooth has now been extracted. Without seeing your x-rays & without clinical examination all I can say is that there could be two reasons for the pain to persist. 1. Coincident cervical spondylosis which has not been investigated / detected. 2. Localised osteitis (inflammation of the bone) in the area of that tooth. Of course a definite diagnosis can only be made after a detailed clinical examination.