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Hello Doc,this is rather long. Over the past 3 1/2 months I have been experiencing problems with my mouth, all of which seems to have appeared after I saw a new dentist. First she cleaned my teeth in Mar/Apr. My shock was my gums bled. Her question to me was did I my gums always bleed that much? I told her no. I also said it depends on who cleans my teeth because she was a bit heavy-handed. She recommended all 4 of my wisdom teeth be extracted because they were impacted and she said that food was getting caught back there. In addition, I needed to replace my filling on the left (upper) side of my mouth I noticed shortly after she cleaned my teeth, whenever I touched the back of my front teeth with my tongue, that it had a fleshy feel to it. It felt a little inflammed. I did not have any other symptoms that I could remember. I alerted this to her when I arrived to have my filling replaced. After the filling, it felt like the pieces of the filling were moving between my teeth. It felt like I had food stuck between my teeth. I went back to her (about 10 days later) and she said that it was part of the filling and it would eventually go away. For my wisdom teeth, she recommended an oral surgeon. He immediately told me I needed them out to prevent infection, etc. About 5 days later, I am experiencing odd symptoms in my mouth. The symptoms include a burning sensation like my mouth was on fire. I was also experiencing chills at night. The chills lasted only a few days with no sign of a cold such as coughing. My throat did not actually hurt. The pain was along the sides of my mouth in back where my wisdom teeth were. My upper sides of my mouth back where the wisdom teeth felt swollen, too. The nurse at my job who had experience with wisdom teeth told me that my left bottom wisdom teeth was swollen and asked did I feel any pain. I told her no. She said to have my wisdom removed because they were definitely impacted. I went to my ENT specialist in mid-June. He saw some inflammation on my left side of my mouth. He took a throat culture. It came back negative. However, during the wait for my culture, he prescribed augmentin. This cleared the problem (not immediately). It took effect 3 days later, then it was gone. I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth extracted on July 3rd. The process healed quickly. I was prescribed Penicillan to help prevent infection. A week after I finished taking the penicillan, I began to notice tongue was coated white. I went to my ENT specialist he said the the coating was due to a digestive disorder. He checked my extractions and said it looked fine. At the time, I had no sign of a sore throat until a few days later. Accompanied with this was a cold which lasted a few days. I went to my ENT specialist because I told him I had a sore throat and directly underneath my chin was a hard lump. (it is still there to this day) He told me that I would have to have a sore in the bottom of my mouth (i.e. under my tongue) for the lump to show. He told me that if I have anything viral, the antibiotics prescribed will not treat it my problem. About a week later, I went back to my oral surgeon. He told me that I had a bit of a hairy tongue but was not unusual. He told me to brush without toothpaste and told me to stay off the internet. He said he could not actually say whether the over abundance of antibiotics is the cause of my coated tongue because he did not know much about coating of the tongue. I explained that my gums upper esp. on my left felt swollen. I told him also, when I chew on my left, it hurts at the bottom. He said it was not unusual and to give my mouth a little more time to heal. Doc, I am having crazy symptoms. Now the burning of my mouth has returned. I do have a few chills at night and some in spells during the day. (not every night nor every day) I forgot to add that I am now having a rash (again) under my breasts. I do not know what is going on. I also have on my right side on my hand (between my thumb and pointer) swelling and also on my right foot near my arch, a swelling. I am scared becuase I fear the worst and true, I have turned to the Internet as my guide and I have read some frightning things on what could be the justification to all of my symptoms. I have an appointment to see my OB. I am not sure what they will tell me. I do plan to tell them everything I have experienced since my visit to the dentist. It could be stress. Doc, do you know what could be the possible reason for all of this? Please advise. My mouth feels swollen, esp. on the upper and esp. on the left side where my wisdom teeth were. My body temperature keeps rising and falling but yet remains normal whenever I check my temps. Is it all in my head?

Though I am far from being able to diagnose your conditions, it is quite likely that the symptoms you are experiencing have more than one cause. Did a doctor examine the bump under your chin? One possibility is that it is a swollen lymph node which can become quite sore, hard, and enlarged at times. Also, 'Hairy Tongue' is quite a common occurrence with antibiotics and is one of the more likely diagnoses. As for the other swelling in your body, did these also occur shortly after taking antibiotics? Sometimes, our bodies experience what is called a 'Delayed Drug Response' reaction in which a rash or other allergy symptoms can arise even days after ending antibiotic therapy. In any event, it certainly sounds like your body's immune system is fighting off an infection at the moment. Your letter seems very thorough. If you have not considered doing so already, I strongly recommend that you give a copy of the letter which you wrote me to your doctor at your next appointment. I would also enjoy hearing from you in the future when more information arises about your circumstance. One more thought for you... have your doctors considered treatment for allergies (ie. antihistamines)? If not, you might ask them if the swelling and bumps are possibly an allergic reaction.