The Shocking Tooth about Trigeminal Neuralgia

To the Editor: A 66-year-old woman with a two-year history of right-sided trigeminal neuralgia (involving the second trigeminal division) presented with severe exacerbation of her typical sharp pain after a root-canal procedure in a right upper incisor. The procedure had slightly repositioned a mercury-amalgam restoration, nudging it closer to the adjacent tooth, which bore a gold-alloy crown. Thereafter, and until the mercury amalgam was replaced by a porcelain restoration, tomatoes or certain other acidic foods would produce intense jolts, described as being like those of an “electrical battery,” in the right palate, boosting the pain in the same division of . . .