Recomendations for Dental Work

    • Anonymous
      May 20, 2006 at 11:15 pm

      Hello,
      I am post GBS two and a half years. Still have fatigue, and pain mostly in feet and legs. I am scheuled for some dental work to replace an old cavity.
      Are there dangers I should be aware of before I have this procedure done? My regular Dentist is out with cancer and I will be seeing a new dentist at his practice for this. What should I make them aware of or what should I research before my appointment?
      Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.
      Thanks!
      Bonnie:

    • Anonymous
      May 21, 2006 at 12:00 pm

      Hi Bonnie,

      Are you taking Neurontin or any other anti-seizure med for the pain? I read an article a few yrs back that said anyone taking anti-seizure meds should tell the Dentist. Explain that you have a Neurological illness, hopefully the dentist will understand. Other then that I haven’t heard much of any major complications from having your teeth fixed, but everyone’s body reacts differently. So just explain away to the dentist.:)

    • Anonymous
      May 21, 2006 at 12:05 pm

      Make sure your Dentist is aware, I am always given an oral antibiotic before my dental work.

      Jerimy

    • Anonymous
      May 23, 2006 at 1:23 am

      Bonnie, make sure you call your dentist well in advance of your appt, tell him your health issues and concerns, if they are up to date they will do research and be ready to handle you. my husband mentioned to our dentist that i had gbs and he called a meeting with all his staff and they did research on the illness and were able to take care of me just fine. i actually fine tuned them on somethings-like using a battery powered toothbrush is easier for gbs people but for me it drives me crazy, the buzzing gets my nerves going. using the personal flosser is better then string floss that you have to try to hold for a period of time-can’t get both arms up to my mouth and it would look silly trying to floss my teeth bent over and using my legs to rest my elbows on. they even told me to call them if i need someone to brush my teeth when i’m in the hospital-they provide the service for free–much better then the nurses do. take it easy.

    • Anonymous
      May 23, 2006 at 12:58 pm

      I have seen the dentist so much in the past 3 months since my Dad died. I’ve had fillings and crowns put on… I told the dentist I was on amitryptiline, but he didn’t seem to care – or that it meant anything. Fortuntely, so far so good.

      I would be more worried about that illness that you can get from dental work that puts some kind of infection around your heart. I guess that is what the antibiotics are good for. Here in OKC, we just had a TV news personality die of this.

      Happy Smiles 😀

    • Anonymous
      September 17, 2006 at 9:19 am

      Patients taking wafarin or cumidin should be aware that use of blood thinners must be sdecreased or stopped before dental surgery.

      Regards,
      Marge

    • Anonymous
      October 31, 2006 at 9:44 pm

      My son Nate had a lot of dental work done recently and his Dentist would not do anything unless he had 2,000 mg of Amoxicillin at least 1 hr before.
      She was very cautious and good for her to be.
      GBS Patients have very unstable immune systems and after watching Nate go thru numerous types of infections while hospitalized, including Strep, Staph, I know how easily he could get them.
      Be sure not to think you’ll be just fine and not take any antibiotics. Its much too risky.

    • Anonymous
      October 31, 2006 at 10:40 pm

      i have had a tooth break today, oh what fun. i called my dentist which i haven’t seen since my dx of cidp. when i mentioned it, the office asked me to find whatever information i could off the internet about my disease with having dental work and bring with me tomorrow at my visit. I can’t find a thing, which i take as a good thing. right?

    • Anonymous
      November 1, 2006 at 9:08 pm

      Here’s some information that you should show to your dentist. Jethro posted it on another thread.

      Maybe the best information for GBS/CIDPer’s would be “Guillain Barre – Do not use Lidocaine” see weblink [url]www.mult-sclerosis.org/news/Jul2000/Unmaskingsubclinicallesions.html[/url]

      An endogenous pentapeptide acting as a sodium channel blocker in inflammatory autoimmune disorders of the central nervous system.

      [url]http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=//nm/journal/v6/n7/abs/nm0700_808.html&filetype=[/url]

      Nat Med 2000 Jul;6(7):808-11

      Brinkmeier H, Aulkemeyer P, Wollinsky KH, Rudel R

      Department of General Physiology, University of Ulm, D-89069 Ulm, Germany.

      Reversible blockade of sodium channels by endogenous substances has been claimed to account for the fast exacerbations and relapses commonly seen in demyelinating autoimmune diseases. Evidence has been provided that in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis or Guillain-Barre syndrome, a sodium-channel-blocking factor exists that has properties of local anesthetic agents. This factor could contribute to the nerve conduction block and paresis seen in these disorders. We describe here a previously unknown endogenous substance in human cerebrospinal fluid with distinct channel-blocking properties even at very low (0.00001 M) concentrations. The pentapeptide with the sequence Gln-Tyr-Asn-Ala-Asp exerted its blocking action by shifting the steady-state inactivation curve of the sodium channels to more-negative potentials, as most local anesthetics do. In the cerebrospinal fluid of healthy individuals, its concentration was about 3 &mgr;M, whereas in patients with multiple sclerosis and Guillain-Barre syndrome, it increased 300-1,400%. At these concentrations, the peptide’s blocking efficacy was higher than that of 50 &mgr;M lidocaine. At a concentration of 10 &mgr;M, lidocaine is able to ‘unmask’ subclinical lesions in multiple sclerosis; thus, the endogenous pentapeptide may well contribute to the fast changes of symptoms. Furthermore, it may become valuable as a marker of disease activity.

      PMID: 10888931, UI: 20348033 END

      Jethro

      P.S. You should make a copy of this and give to your dentist. Tell your dentist instead of Lidocaine, you recommend mepivicaine (Carbocaine®) or prilocaine (Citanest®) without vasoconstrictors.

    • Anonymous
      November 2, 2006 at 12:20 am

      Jethro,
      I want to thank you for the info. i went to the dentist today and he did a quick fix using nothing! i am to return next week and will need to be numbed. i will certainly copy and give to him.
      again, thanks!
      lisa

    • Anonymous
      December 20, 2006 at 3:28 pm

      I had two teeth extracted without antibiotics and acquired GBS 2 months latter. Coincidence? Doctor’s insist that I be given antibiotics before any future dental work. Initially some doctors here believed that GBS was only acquired virally however, thanks to some articals on various GBS web sites they are now aware that it can also be acquired bacterially.
      Take the antibiotics it definately can’t hurt you.

      gene GBS-09/16/2006

    • Anonymous
      January 21, 2007 at 3:25 am

      this is of serious concern. my most recent work, he and i decided to go ‘stud’ and not use anything to numb the pain.

      the previous time he tried some other numbing agent, but it did not take well and my heart rate went up pretty high.

      i did not fully understand the ‘sodium’ article – is there a common man abstract?

      smile,
      ferenc

    • Anonymous
      January 21, 2007 at 10:57 pm

      I have had alot of dentist work done. Had my teeth cleaned a month before I got GBS….still wondering about that one! Did not remember having any infection from that cleaning but seems interesting to me!

      I have tried to tell my Dentist not to use Lidocaine but the first time back to the Dentist in 2006 she used it and I had told the Hygentist and thought she would convey that message to the Dentist……WRONG! ….she used Lidocaine and it did not numb my mouth until I was home for over 30 minutes….over an hour after I got the shot. Then they did other work using another med and it was ok and then they used the Lidocaine again without me knowing….it did not work! They know now after I got upset and vocal about paying attention to my chart that they talk to me about what they are giving me! I think I told them that STRESS from stupid dentists can cause a relapse! They have tried a few and some only lasted a short time….so we are still experimenting with the type of agent they use. I think I have two more visits! It has been a really eye opening experience for me!

      Just one more reason I am thinking of getting a medical alert bracelet.

    • Anonymous
      March 9, 2007 at 10:06 pm

      Bumped for members to review article on Lidocaine

      Sue

    • Anonymous
      April 25, 2007 at 10:41 pm

      I am to just recovering (1 year) from gbs and recently had an Three teeth removed due to an abss tooth gone really bad. I was on oral antibiotics for three days before and 7 days after. I was also told by the oral surgeon that novacaine is not as effective on gbs patients and that my best bet was to be put to sleep for all future dental work. He also told me that pain after the dental work would most likly be more intense and so he also prescibed a strong pain med for 5 days.Hope that everything goes smoothly for you.:D

    • April 26, 2007 at 1:49 pm

      Regarding the article on lidocaine, I showed Kevi’s neuro the article and he confered with other neuros. and they determined that they felt this was one isolated study done in Germany. As well, when you get a l/p, they use lidocaine to numb. the area. Kevin also has had several ingrown toe nails removed and they did use lidocaine and everything was ok. However, I do not know where I read or heard this but I do remember something about general anesthetic being more of an issue, because the immune system is temporarily turned off and then has to start again and gets confused. I think I am going to look into that in the event we ever need a surgery! Dawn Kevie’s mom

    • Anonymous
      August 23, 2007 at 8:30 pm

      I had been going to the dentist in a period of 2 years appointments for fillings ,cleaning and crowns. And it seems that I had more dental work then before I have this syndrome. I stop going to the dentist in the middle of 2006 cause of insurances and high deductibles.

    • August 24, 2007 at 12:24 pm

      I think I recall reading on the sight that some people believe the ivig has something to do with failing teeth. Not sure if this is true, maybe you can do a search within the forum regarding ivig and teeth.

      Dawn Kevies mom 😮

    • Anonymous
      August 24, 2007 at 10:33 pm

      thanks I’ll do that !

    • Anonymous
      September 24, 2007 at 1:35 pm

      Can anyone explain the article to me? I am not sure I really understand what it is saying.

      I had dental work done when I was about 5 months post GBS and I am sure my dentist used the regular freezing. I wonder … I still have a lot of problems with that side of my face … could this have contributed to a slow recovery?

      I go to see him again on Wed AM so I would like to have some info for him but I don’t really understand it.

      Thanks for any help!