Here's another one. Anyone experienced painful teeth -- extreme sensitivity to moderately. cold food? Not related to chewing or pressure on the teeth...strictly just contact. Very unpleasant. I use Sensodyne toothpaste to no effect. I assume it is the steroids.
Painful teeth: Here's another one. Anyone... - PMRGCAuk
Painful teeth
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Merryfield
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oh yes, that chestnut. I had that during steroids and still do to a lesser extent. Cold was ok but even tepid food would set of a cascade of pain along a half row or all of them and all I could do was hold my face until it stopped. I still can’t eat piping hot food or drink a cup of tea immediately after coming in from the cold outside. My dentist said it was the steroids and then I found references to dentine hypersensitivity induced by steroids. By accident I found that toothpaste without titanium or laureth sulphates in helps reduce the sensitivity and no toothpaste for sensitive teeth made the slightest bit of difference.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/278...
Thank you, Snazz. There are sooo many jigs and jogs to PMR/steroid use. Glad your sensitivity has abated a bit.
I had really sensitive teeth when I started taking steroids at 20mg, by 10mg it was totally OK again. I did use Sensodyne, but I agree it did not seem to make much difference.
Thanks, Piglette. Then hopefully when I reduce the steroids, (when, I don't know), the sensitivity will go away. BTW, I have a pig pitcher, pig piggy bank, pig-lidded cook-put, Razorback-lidded casserole dish and pig in a truck photo.
Piggy banks interest me particularly!
There are no coins in it. Just the empty plastic bank. Belonged to a late woman whose daughter hosted a memorial and spread out some of her fun things for the attendees to take. I took the glitzy little pig with a feather on her head.
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No - it can be the PMR, I had it with PMR but long before steroids appeared on the scene - like years earlier!
I was lucky, Sensodyne worked for me but none of the other sensitive teeth pastes did so it is worth trying various ones. Don't rinse your mouth after brushing, or at least only minimally, or you lose the benefit.
ahh. i see. will try some others
Your dentist may give you some samples ...
Happened to me and the dentist gave me special toothpaste and it all went away.
I will check w dentist’s office.
actually, just orderer spotlight and tom’s. will try noth
Yes absolutely it’s a thing ! I find it’s hot drinks , so everything nowadays is tepid . My dentist was no help and said it’s not the steroids 🙄 I use sensodyn rapid relief which helps a bit . Wether it’s my imagination or not but I started using electrolytes and mineral drinks , mainly for the lower leg cramps I was getting but it seems to have also improved the sensitivity. If I miss for a few days it comes back. Who knows !
mineral drinks interesting
my dentist recommended Colgate pro relief toothpaste which helped
all amazon had were tiny tubes. if i have time? will try drug store.
I remembered over night that both my dentist and hygienist “painted” something over the sensitive teeth. This helped too
Wish i had time for dentist. Leaving country Sat
Some remedies you can try to help youself:
At 80 yrs old and have been taking prednisolone for over 10 yrs, I also suffer from painful teeth/gums when drinking hot or cold drinks. I never associated this with steroids but maybe it is.
may be help out there
yes, the pain from cold food & drink is horrendous. I bought some sensodyne toothpaste yesterday so will see if it works for me
good luck
Hi yes at higher doses I experienced this, went away at lower doses. I found actually putting some sensodyne toothpaste on the actually teeth with my fingers and leaving helped. Hope it improves for you
hmm
Strangely enough, I've found that since being on prednisolone the sensitivity in my teeth has decreased (7.5mg since October 2020). Perhaps my problem was more to do with inflammation.
glad pain receded
I always had sensitive teeth and Sensodyne used to control it but once I started prednisone they went off the chart. I started using a toothpaste called Spotlight Oral Care (sensitive version) and it sorted the problem. It’s made in Ireland so I’m not sure if you can get in US. I know it’s available in Boots UK for any UK members interested. It’s expensive but you only need a small amount so does last for ages. They also do a gel you put on your gums but I only used a couple of times, the toothpaste on its own seem to do the trick
Shiv14 - May I ask which toothpaste you use, I see they do Sensitive and Rebuilding? Did you go for Sensitive? Thanks.
just ordered some spotlight on amazon
I hope it works for you too
yes most definitely! I couldn’t get anyone to take me seriously though.
Just walking in cold air set my teeth off. Breathing even hurt my teeth when out in cold air and then I saw a different hygienist at my dental practice who also has an autoimmune disease and she actually listened.
She told me to use BioMin F toothpaste which I’d never heard of.
It’s expensive but oh so worth it. I’m still on steroids, still have some teeth pain but absolutely no where near as bad since using this.
Toothpaste that helps my teeth pain recommended by my hygienist
Sadly, this toothpaste has Sodium Laureth Suphate as an ingredient. I am sensitive to this ingredient- it gives me mouth ulcers. I always check the ingredients just for that reason.
Spotlight, mentioned earlier, has none of that ingredient, so I have ordered a tube of that.
Thanks to everyone on the thread for mentioning the link with Pred. I thought it was just me who had the problem.
That’s a shame. It works for me but we are all different. Good luck with whatever you try as it’s just yet another miserable ailment to deal with x
not on amazon but i will look for at drugstore
I’m in the U.K. I get it from Amazon £17 for two tubes but it lasts me ages.
Oh yes, sensitive teeth have been an absolute nightmare since Pred appeared on my menu.
so many surprises with this disease.
Yes. I’ve posted about this, on several occasions. I started to have issues a couple of years ago, which triggered all manner of investigations at the dental hospital. As there didn’t appear to be anything wrong with my teeth or gums, I queried whether it could be an effect of the pred., but was told that it wasn’t, though anecdotal evidence on this site seemed to suggest a correlation. Cold and sweet things set it off for me.
may we all have doctors who listen
Oddly enough my sensitivity started as I was coming off the steroids, boy oh, how painful! Dentist gave me Cogate to try, but to use as a paste to leave on. He also said it could take a few weeks to work so to be patient. Took about 5 before I could properly eat hot and cold food again, but it did work. I have continued to used the toothpaste and apart from occasional blips, the pain has stayed away.Hope you find some relief; tooth pain is horrid.
Hi, I have very sensitive teeth and when pain strikes, I find rubbing coconut oil on them very helpful.
Yes! On higher than 15 mg I had that. I had to heat everything coming from the refrigerator. It was horrible. It went away on a lower dose. Now on 7,5 it hurt again, but that's when chewing and more my jaws than teeth.
Um - is that new? Never had it before? Remember pain in response to chewing can be GCA related.
I had it before when of pred. and on low doses, worse than now. Was referred to hospital but they did not take it serious because CRP was normal. Things have changes now here in DK. Rheumatology ass. has new guideline following the UK ones, so everything is better treatment wice. I will mentioned it to my new and very capable rheumy. But PMR symptoms are creeping in on me now after 4 weeks on 7,5 mg 
Thought I was in remission.....
Unfortunately it sounds as if only in remission when on enough pred. Glad to hear they are catching up! Don't wait too long to tell the rheumy,
Agree with PMRpro, Rheumy needs to be aware...never mind the CRP readings, needs checking.
Yes. I brush with warm water now.
Yes! I had this earlier in my PMR journey, extreme tooth sensitivity to cold. Room temperature water was even too cold and made my teeth hurt, and I had to warm everything up. So annoying. I did start using Sensodyne then and still do -- the sensitivity faded over a few months. FYI I am in year 6 after diagnosis and had to start at 40mg of prednisone becasue 20 did not help, then switched to prenisolone due to side effects. Now I have doubled the DSNS taper (to be even slower lol) as I go from .5mg prenisolone to .25mg, and then hopefully off this year! Fingers crossed. Hang in there!
i only fantasize about starting a low taper. on 24 mgs medrol.
I know. It has taken me years, with many ups and downs to get here. Sending strength for the fight. <3
yes! In fact I went to the dentist only the other day thinking that something terrible was going on with my teeth. Dentist said it’s just bad sensitivity! He coated the offending teeth, molars and it’s been much better since.
Many thanks for all the support and tips. I will act on them. xoxo
Yes and as a side comment, dentist said to leave the Sensodyne on my teeth and gums for awhile, as rinsing it immediately will be of little effect. It is very painful, I know.
I was put on Sulfasalazine as a steroid sparer. A row of my molars on the bottom left side of my mouth would get severe nerve pain when I drank anything hot or cold. I had just been to the dentist 3 months prior & I had no cavities, so I thought this strange. Rheumy eventually took me off the Sulfasalazine & I have no more nerve pain in my teeth.
glad u have no pain. i am not on sulfasassaline.
Yes, I've been dealing with just one tooth for the last couple of months. And prior to that I had like sores on the inside of my cheek and on a gum. Dentist had me use a prescription mouth wash for the sores, and they did eventually go away. But he didn't have any answer at all for the sensitive tooth. It even hurt to touch the surface with my finger! Xray showed absolutely nothing. He gave me perscription strength Sensodyne. (Don't know if it's available in the UK.) It has helped a little bit, but I'm not impressed. Still quite painful. Not just sensitivity, but also to bite down on it. Until seeing these posts, I didn't think it was the prednisone. When I asked my dentist, he couldn't answer that question. So, while I'm glad to have found some answers here, ---------------😥 I'm going to try to find a couple of those toothpastes mentioned here. Let us know if you find an answer!
Could also be an infected root. Been to that rodeo multiple times. Hurts to bite down. My steroid pain is different.
Oh, gosh! I don't want it to be that! I've always had very good dental health. So this is all pretty new to me. I haven't needed much dental care other than cleaning over the years, so if I need any REAL work, I'm a total coward!! But I was relieved to see how many people are dealing with this kind of issue here. So I guess I'll just have to play it by ear.
Could even be a gum problem - and my experience is that, although gum health is crucial to tooth health, many dentists don't pay the attention to gums they should.
Gosh, I hope it's not gum issues. They look fine, I think. Been with this dentist for 40 years. He's getting ready to retire. Up til now, I haven't seen him for anything but cleaning twice a year. and now all of a sudden I've seen him twice lately for these mysterious "issues"! Sure don't want to start down a road of problems at this stage of my life!!
Does he check the pockets around the teeth when he cleans? My cousin had 2 dentists who never told her, in fact one said she was fine, and she successfully sued one of them - in the UK. Do check.
The hygienist uses a powerful narrow jet of water to get in the gums around the teeth. That hurt last time. Yow.
While I hate to hear people suffering with this, it's SUCH a relief to know I'm not losing my mind. All of a sudden, cold has become extremely unpleasant. I've tapered from 40 to 17.5 but the sensitivity started only recently.
On the upside, it makes it harder to eat an entire pint of ice cream, lol.
Between facial hair and painful teeth, there has been quite a response from our fellow PMR-ers. Good to know we aren’t imagining our symptoms.
My teeth were teribble at high doses of pred, but improved under 20mg. However, the improvement has not continued now that I am at a very low dose.
The trouble with toothpastes for sensitive teeth is that , although they can help quite quickly, the effect might not be lasting. My dentist has rescribed a toothpaste calle Duraphat5000, which as its name suggests, has 5000ppm fluoride. It is not a quick fix though!
Sorry that you are still suffering.
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