‘Tooth Ache Was a Trigger to Something More Worrisome’

By a Crown Heights resident

I was puzzled by what I felt and I didn’t know what was happening to me.

During Covid months, I neglected to see my dentist and didn’t think much of it.

As time went on, I developed what I thought was a toothache. Eventually, my daughter said, “Ma, why don’t you just go to the dentist?”

Besides the toothache, I noticed that I had the strangest new sensation of a slight squeezing in my chest, knowing that I had an hiatal hernia, I figured it was acting up because of the food sensitivity that I have. The sensation passed quickly and I figured it was nothing until it became quite frequent and often would wake me in the middle of the night. This was after many hours of not eating which was very weird because I always associated the sensation with food and my hiatal hernia.

Finally, I made an appointment with my dentist and he said “there’s nothing wrong with your teeth”,(after taking x-rays and a thorough check-up). He said, “I don’t want to scare you, but I think you should see a cardiologist!”

In the taxi on the way home from the dentist, I called my General Practitioner doctor’s office and his assistant got me an appointment the very next day with my cardiologist whom I’ve had for years, without any incident. He’s very personable, like a friend and I was completely comfortable with him. We did a stress test on the treadmill and I did very well. There was a slight irregularity with the electrocardiogram, and the doctor wanted it checked out just to rule out any concern. I had a CAT scan which showed Severely blocked arteries.

I was shocked! Within days I had a triple bypass.

I’d like to alert people that a toothache on the left side of the mouth ended up being JAW pain just like my dentist suggested!

Thanks to my amazing dentist and doctors I am doing very well today. Boruch Hashem!!

Please be alerted, pain on the left side of your mouth can be JAW PAIN and NOT a toothache. They feel very similar.

May we all be healthy and well and never know from such occurrences.