I’ve actively noticed this issue for at least 2 weeks going on 3 now, and have since realized I may have even been experiencing this since January.
It started out that after eating dinner every night, I’d begin to feel this nagging tension in the back of my mouth. It has varied in location, sometimes at the top or bottom of my mouth, and between my actual back molars and centered around my premolars. I began tracking my meals, and believed that this was particularly triggered by consumption of wheat-containing foods or perhaps some unidentified spices, but today I had this oral reaction to an eggs and sausage breakfast which I have had almost every morning for years without issue. Additionally, a recent skin-prick allergy test did not demonstrate a wheat allergy, although the allergist did not provide the wheal size of each tested item.
Notable is that during these experiences, I have yet to feel any gum soreness or tooth pain in the areas where this tension has occurred, nor I have I felt any itchiness/scratchiness in the mouth or seen any skin/tongue bumps or swelling.
About two to three years ago, my dentist identified one or two wisdom teeth that appeared to be positioned towards an eventual problematic eruption. However, my symptoms are inconsistent with an ill-positioned eruption in several ways. Again, I am not experiencing any pain from this, and up until today, these symptoms for the most part only seemed to follow dinner. In addition, unless the growth trajectory of some of my wisdom teeth has changed, it does not follow that I’d be experiencing these sensations in all four back corners of my mouth and at varying times.
The only habit of mine that has noticeably changed recently is that I have not been consistently brushing my teeth before going to bed, and perhaps it is possible cavities have developed in the back of my mouth and there has been increased sensitivity as a result. As you might see from my other threads, I’ve also experienced an increased anxiety over food allergies in the lead up to the test I had earlier, and have developed weird facial tics occasionally involving twitching of my zygo/buccal muscles. It is possible something has changed about the way I eat food given my new apprehensiveness.
Anxiety may very well play some factor here given that I now experience mouth swelling sensations in the shower and swallowing discomfort using the same shampoo and soap on my hair/face I have used for at least 2 years now. That being said, it is notable that on the few occasions I have tried Benadryl in response to these symptoms out of curiosity that these symptoms seem to mitigate at a much quicker pace, e.g. yesterday within an hour of 25mg ingestion.
One last potential contributor to consider is that I have had ongoing issues with earwax hyperproduction that have resulted in many trips to the doctor to clean out the canals. The last few times this has become an issue I’ve syringed the ears myself at home. It is possible a sloppier DIY syringing at home may have caused some sort of ear infection, or that soap from the shower may be trapped within the earwax and causing these issues if I am actually sensitive to the soap.
Can anyone make sense of what exactly I am experiencing, with at least 4 different potential causes being possible? Thanks.
(Additional thought - is it possible this could even be swelling of salivary glands, which are present everywhere I’ve felt these symptoms (either submandibular or partoid)?)