Chronic pain after a dental surgery = tms?

My father had his teeth done about 18 months ago. I've gotta say, I don't know much about dental surgery, but he's had no mercury and no amalgam, he just has very white teeth now. He says he's still in pain because of it. He says he feels it when he's eating. Could this be tms? Thanks in advance.

 

Yes, it could be. It is common for TMS to start following a surgery or injury. He should be sure to rule out any physical/structural causes first, but after that could benefit from learning about TMS and treating his pain as TMS.

 

Is there a way I can learn more about tms after surgeries? I've read all of Sarno's books but it didn't say much about symptoms that occur after a surgery specifically.

 

Perhaps in Steven Ozanich's book, the Great Pain Deception?

 

Have you read his book? I know that sometimes surgery can act as a placebo in tms patients and then pain can develop in other parts of the body, but I haven't read much of pain first developing after a surgery like dental surgery. Does Steve Ozanich's book go into this?

 

It seems as though TMS developing after a surgery is common. As Sarno and the others talk about in their writing, most tissues in the body heal in a maximum of a few months (ex-large bones of leg take 6-8 weeks to heal). After 18 months the area operated on in any part of the body should be healed. TMS could definitely piggyback onto this, I think that is common, and something I now am able to observe in some of my clients still having pain after surgeries long ago. To be sure, your father may want to be checked out to rule out any true structural causes of the pain.

 

Thanks for your reply. Do you know how long it takes for nerves to recover and do some nerves take longer to recover than others?

 

Hi Eric,

If there was a true sever of a nerve in the peripheral nervous system (aka not the spinal cord or brain), it would regenerate at a rate of about 1" per month. The symptoms from this would likely be numbness and loss of function and reflexes in the area, not just pain. All nerves in the peripheral nervous system should follow this similar pattern. After a surgery or injury, swelling occurs, which can push on nerves, but this should resolve within weeks. At that point the nerves should be fine.

That being said, if he is mostly having pain or other sensations like tingling etc without true numbness or loss of function that points more towards TMS at this stage. He may still want to get checked out by a doctor to make sure there is no other cause for the pain.

Hope that helped!