Dotsie, I can so relate. I've been having that kind of toothache for about a month. Dentist did x-rays, couldn't find anything that was causing the pain, put me on antibiotics just in case. He sent me to the periodontist, who said there was a pocket of calcified tarter just below the gumline behind the lower back molar that may be causing the pain. So Tuesday I go in for a root-planing - I'm NOT looking forward to it at all.

Also, I can't take the Novocaine with the epinephrine in it. And I can't tolerate nitrous, either. There are local anesthetics without the epinephrine, and I always ask the dentist to use those. My biggest problem is the sound of the drill - it slices through my whole body like a knife and vibrates all my bones. Music doesn't block it out, so I try the breathing/relaxation, which mostly works. So a trip to the dentist is quite the ordeal for me. I didn't go for so many years, and now I'm paying for it!

I haven't used a mouth guard - yet. But I will have to wear some kind of stabilizer at night because my lower front teeth are crooked and have shifted. Some days, when the pain is really bad, I'm tempted to call the dentist and tell him to pull 'em all! But then the pain goes away for a while.