I have had 3 root canals in 3 years and a brush with gum disease since I have been taking Flomax. I have eliminated all other causes for this.
Has anyone here had any dental problems possibly associated with Flomax?
Question posted by jamesash on 20 Nov 2013
Last updated on 12 March 2024 by Nadycz
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7 Answers
I'm a 76 year old white male in good physical condition. I receive treatment for type 2 diabetes. I had started taking tamsulosin a year and a half ago. After about 6 months, I started experiencing jaw pain and upper tooth pressure sensitivity/pain. I visited my dentist twice and he couldn't see any dental problems. In addition to the dental related problems, I had shoulder joint pain and heel pain. My podiatrist took x-rays of my feet and could not see any reason for the pain. I was also having some minor disorientation. I happened upon this web site describing these symptoms. I stopped taking tamsulosin and within 2-3 weeks, the jaw and tooth pain diminished. It's been about 3 months now and there is still some minor pressure sensitivity in my upper teeth when chewing. The shoulder and heel pains have also diminished. I informed my doctor to make a note of this problem, although he had not seen this problem in other patients. I hope this information helps.
Yep, I’m 33 and was on Flomax for two weeks now and suddenly had pain in every tooth on the top right of my mouth, even in a root canal tooth that doesn’t have nerves in it. Stopped taking the drug and the pain went away eventually. Ended up seeing my dentist when the pain was happening and he couldn’t find anything wrong with my teeth and didn’t want to do any work on healthy teeth so I knew something was up. Also had a bunch of other side effects that were rough but the dental pain was the absolute worst and I couldn’t tolerate it. I’ve been doing research and dental disorders are listed as a potential side effect of the drug. I’ve never had so many bad side effects from a medication, makes me wonder if maybe I have a slight allergy to Flomax.
I started taking Duodart on the doctor's advice 9 months ago. I stopped that a while back because of very unpleasant side effects from the dutasteride. Assuming the tamsulosin (Flomax) part was safe, I switched to just that. I started getting tooth pain about 6 months into using the Duodart, although I hadn't related it to the meds at the time, even though I had other issues. My dentist wasn't sure about a tooth that looked like it may be causing the pain and might need a root canal. Sent me to the Endodontist, who did a series of endo tests that gave indefinite results. Wait and see action recommended. After several more weeks, I started getting toothache so severe I went back to the Endodontist who acknowledged the toothache and some facial swelling but still insisted the diagnosis was not definitive enough to justify a root canal. He diagnosed neuralgia from unspecified causes and said I should still wait it out.
After I couldn't sleep one night due to the toothache, I found these reports and decided to stop taking the tamsulosin as well. The swelling around my jaw reduced significantly after just 48hrs and the pain has lessened, although it is now more specific and around one tooth - just 5 days after stopping the tamsulosin. The toothache is still quite intense but more irregular now. My gut feeling is that there are definitely dental side effects directly related to taking tamsulosin alone or as part of the Duodart. I would say both meds have seriously upsetting side effects. I'll have to wait and see if the dental side effects are as permanent as the breast tissue growth that came with the dutasteride usage. How long will I have to wait to really find out? I guess it might take a few months of perseverance before I'll know if the toothache/neuralgia will go away.
Update - A few weeks on. The toothache continued to recede and essentially went away after 3 weeks off the tamsulosin. Unfortunately the reason I was taking tamsulosin returned. I am aware there is still some dental issue to be resolved but the entire dental nerve thing no longer seems to be hyper sensitivity to whatever is wrong.
I had to restart the tamsulosin to improve my flow and after reading some research about taking it every second day I switched to that dosing. After about a week I felt I was starting to again get toothache so I have now dropped back to once every 3 days. So far so good...
After I began taking tamsulosin I began to notice my lower teeth hurt when I chewed meat, particularly if the meat were tough. After a few weeks the teeth on the lower right side started aching. In addition I am an insulin dependent type 1 diabetic and tamsulosin is causing me to run higher blood sugars. When I began using it my average blood glucose was 132, with a few weeks it had risen to 147! Worse yet if I inject extra insulin to treat these high blood glucoses it often causes a rapid drop forcing me to ingest sugar, and then goes high again. I am seriously thinking of stopping taking it although it has really helped urine flow.
I have been taking Flomax for several months, and I have had major tooth sensitivity, and now jaw pain(EXTEME)
I stopped 3 days ago the pain is still there. I have been taking Tylenol to help, but as soon as it wears off the pain is back
I was recently prescribed Flomax. About 7-10 days into taking it I started getting pain in my teeth and jaw. After about 3 days the pain was agonizing. I saw something that a rare side effect is oral problems so I stopped. The next day the pain had subsided greatly and withing 3 days it was as if there was never a problem. So Yes it can happen.
Its not going to do that. It sounds like its just normal wear and tear on your mouth.
I have also thought about a correlation. Had taken care of all dental issues over the years. Started Flowmax and I have had dental problems suddenly "pop up" including a root canal. Might be on to something.
Related topics
flomax, oral and dental conditions, disease
Further information
- Flomax uses and safety info
- Flomax prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Flomax (detailed)
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