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Has anyone seen a facial pain specialist?

  • 13-05-2023 11:15pm
    #1
    somethingbleh
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26 ✭somethingbleh


    Guy called Dr John o Brien.


    Im always a bit sus about dentists who put "Dr" in their title without achieving a PhD..but many dentists do so I'm willing to overlook

    Anyways my dentist referred him to me. It's for special cases with atypical tooth and face pain.. Both of which I have in spades .

    He seems to be popular (has multiple clinics.2 Dublin ,and one in bray, Galway and portlaise and cork afaik.

    After being a general dentist for over 20 years he studied the area of facial pain and two year full-time postgraduate course in Orofacial Pain Management at UCLA, a world renowned program in this specialised field.

    Did two year full-time postgraduate course in Orofacial Pain Management at UCLA, a world renowned program in this specialised field.He subsequently was awarded the status of Diplomate of Orofacial Pain.

    Back in Ireland for 23 years so he's been through a slew of patients and appears very busy . I've been surprised not to read any testimonials though.

    The secretary told me he can give me a diagnosis on the initial assessment (130bucks) then it's 120 for every return visit plus treatment costs.

    I also love 3 hours away from Dublin and 3.5 from Galway which is a rough day round trip.

    My only concern is that I have already been enrolled in a pain clinic in a private northern hospital.

    I saw this doctor last month (actual anesthetist with special interest in faicial pain. Lovely man but he just took notes and didn't advise on a diagnosis. Just to plan first line of treatment in 8 weeks from then (long wait when you have chronic pain every day but I got lucky cancellation do hot in 2 weeks later after that he said he would have a follow up call in TEN weeks which is bizarre as I saw no relief whatsoever and it doesn't improve over that time .

    Chased them up again but think I might be getting to slow tier as although it's a private hospital, I'm a *public* patient so we probably have longer waiting times?

    But I'm wondering if it's worth paying out of pocket a few times to this guy if I may eventually be offered the same or possibly conflicting treatment / diagnosis.

    What tempts me is that the secretary said he can give a diagnosis upon the initial assessment (same last name so may be biased..

    But I'm torn on the whole thing so obviously I'm turning to boards/ Ireland for advice.



Comments

  • #2
    Emmy Mammoth Senselessness
    Posts: 0 ✭ Emmy Mammoth Senselessness


    Years ago I went to one for what was diagnosed as Trigeminal Neuralgia, and I ended up on gabapentin, which has a lot of side effects and was of modest help. It turned out I had the type of tooth abscess that doesn’t show up on xray and tooth removal solved the issue. More recently I have developed MS, and Trigeminal Neuralgia can be triggered by that but of course I’ve had many other symptoms. I just think it may have made my facial nerves particularly reactive. An MRI often shows up potential underlying issues.



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