Dental Issues with Finesteride

[fast_eddie]

I am 7 years post full gland HIFU surgery. Quality of life remains good. I've been off ADT all this time. PSA has been slowly rising and hit 2.8. My urologist put me on finesteride. It prevents the conversion of T to DHT. Five weeks after starting on it I experienced an onslaught of dental problems. Very sensitive teeth both top and bottom on left side. I ended up with a costly root canal on a lower tooth. I still experienced problems in that area after that. A google search revealed that I am not alone in this regard. I stopped taking finesteride a couple of weeks ago. My dental problems seem to be receding. Anyone else experience this issue with finesteride?

[dentaltwin]

I've never heard anything about finasteride and caries, and a quick literature search shows nothing (although questions have been asked, including here, answered by my brother):

justanswer.com/dental/gd99u...

[Shorter]

Have been on Finasteride for 2+ years with no such problem.

[fast_eddie]

I can't find that site that I googled regarding finesteride and dental issues but I captured a bit of that discussion from that site. This is from someone else, not me:

"I’m having a ton of dental problems right now. I had a cleaning/check up on April 28 2010, and everything was fine. Took finesteride for 15 days in mid-May. By late June I started having problems in one of my lower second molars, which eventually became inflamed and needed a root canal. The root canaled tooth hasn’t healed as of 6 weeks after the procedure(very sensitive to air and still tender to pushing and chewing), and they suspect it’s cracked at the root. Looking more and more like I’m going to have this one pulled.

A few weeks ago, I also started having problems in the lower first molar on the other side. Very similar to the first tooth I mentioned-- sensitivity to air, a small twinge on biting. Looks like another cracked tooth. This despite the fact I was wearing a dental night guard… those things protect your teeth from grinding wear, but not so much from clenching forces. I’m now wearing a rubber football guard which has a little more give to it.

Looking more and more like I"m going to lose these two teeth. This is extremely distressing, as I had exemplary dental health before all this. Will probably try to go for implants, which adds about $6000 to what I’ve spent so far($1100 for a root canal, $300 for dental exams). My dentist is making me an NTI-TSS splint, which fits onto the two front teeth and supposedly stops the clenching/grinding reaction. This astoundingly costs $600 in itself.

My thought is that the hormonal imbalance caused by propecia may have compromised the strength of my teeth. Either that or the stress of the whole situation caused me to clench/grind with greater."

Well the only thing that changed with me was starting on that finesteride 5 mg prescription. I quit taking it three weeks ago. My teeth seem back to normal. It was to the point where I couldn't walk my dog in the evening. Even 58 degree air outside would trigger tooth pain so I am done with finesteride.

[j-o-h-n]

Scoured HU history and could not find a relationship of teeth issues and the use of finasteride.

Click on site below for a list of side effects of finasteride from the Mayo Clinic.

mayoclinic.org/drugs-supple...

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n

[fast_eddie in reply to j-o-h-n]

OK, it is very weird. I have no medical allergies. I've never had strange show stopping side effects from any medications but I sure did with this finesteride. I also found that website I first stumbled across.

forum.propeciahelp.com/t/pr...

Here's another.

ehealthme.com/ds/finasterid...

Anyway, I am done with finesteride. I wanted to be a good, compliant patient but not at the expense of unrelenting toothaches. As I mentioned above, I stopped finesteride and my dental problems are gone.

[j-o-h-n in reply to fast_eddie]

You sure work fast eddie.....

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n