ES can irritate nerves that affect your gums & it is entirely possible that the strange feeling comes from an irritated nerve or nerves. I had very strange sensations in my gums before my ES surgeries. They would feel like they’d been badly burned (like when you drink or eat something that’s very hot). This feeling would last several hours then go away. It was very intermittent but quite annoying. That sensation has never returned since I had my styloids removed.
I must qualify though that I’m not a doctor & if an MRI would give you full peace of mind, you should request one. Just wanted you to know that elongated styloids do tangle with & compress & irritate nerves that affect many areas of our heads, necks, & arms.
I do agree- I have toothache in a couple of the molars from the compression of the Trigeminal nerve, & have been to the dentist to get the teeth checked out several times, but they’re fine! Depending on the angle of the styloid it can be felt in slightly different places with different members- the foreign body sensation isn’t actually a foreign body in the throat, but irritated nerves giving that sensation.
There isn’t radiation from an MRI so you don’t need to worry about having too many scans- my doctor requested an MRI to see if anything else was going on to rule out other conditions, & it was helpful showing disc problems. I don’t know the system in Germany, how easy or expensive it is to get scans done?
Thank you for your answers…it helps a lot, to write it down, when I’m scared…meanwhile the other side is growing, i know that for sure. It’s starting to hurt in my throat, and when I turn my head, it sounds funny - like the sound, when you step on very dry wood, like breaking a thin branch of wood…my husband is always frightened, when he hears that, it’s pretty loud but so it started at the other side, where the long one is…and it took only half a year to feel the little bone then in my mouth…someone said here, that calcium is a fact, that can speed up the growth, and I took calcium every day in my pregnancy 2,5 years ago…I think, that made everything worse, but nevertheless my little daughter is a wonderful result, it was worth it!!!
It’s unclear whether or not taking calcium supplements can make ES worse. I’ve taken calcium supplements for years (even back when I was a teenager). I believe my ES was a result of a whiplash injury in a car accident when I was in college & a head injury from going over the handlebars on my bike when I was 13 years old. It makes sense to me that these 2 traumas to my neck could have given rise to elongated styloids years later.
The sounds you hear when you turn your head sound pretty scary. There have been other members on this forum who have had similar experiences, however, I don’t recall any of them mentioning that the sounds they heard could be heard by others. I can imagine this is disconcerting for your husband!!
You have a wonderful attitude, cookie! How great to hear that your daughter is such a blessing to you & worth the ES troubles if it was indeed caused by taking calcium supplements.
I feel a little bit ashamed these days. Last thursday I had an appointment at a surgeant because of problems at another tooth extraction. And he was so kind to look at my ct-scan, that I had brought with me. All the months the main problems were on my left side. And at the pictures of my scan I saw the longer ES also on the left side. Ok - in the written evaluation to the scan was meant, that the left side is 3,8 cm long and the right side is 5cm long. But I always thought, the evaluation was wrong and was a little bit upset, that they couldn’t write it correctly!!! I could feel the left side by touching the inside of my mouth, so it was clear to me, that they were wrong. But the surgeant went through the pictures and told me: No, they were absolutely right!!! At the scan the right ES seems to be interrupted by a structure I don’t know and then there is still a little bit of the bone, I didn’t recognize! What a shame! But how can it be, that I can feel the shorter one in my mouth, and the longer one NOT? To where it is growing??? It’s a bit frightening…
The side you feel looks like it’s pointing slightly forwards, which is why you can feel it, the other side looks longer, but not at such an angle. There’s lots of research articles showing that it’s not always the length of the styloid process which causes symptoms, but the angle it grows at, & what structures it then compresses or irritates, which is why presumably you have worse symptoms on one side. It’s interesting though in the second picture you’ve put on that there doesn’t look like there’s that much difference in length… it’s not always easy to measure the SPs accurately; often members have found that when they’ve had them removed they’re longer than the radiologists measured. I think maybe what you’ve seen in the picture of the right side is the process from one of the cervical vertebrae.
When you follow the line of the bone, you see a little piece, the rest is hidden by something. You’ll ne certainly right, when you think this might be the cervical vertebrae… The rest of your answer I didn’t understand so well, I have to usw Google.translate First…
It’s most likely a calcified stylohyoid ligament. Do you have pictures from other angles? It’d be interesting to see one that goes right down to the hyoid bone.
Cookie, please remember that we are not doctors here. While it can be amusing to speculate about what we may be seeing on diagnostic imaging, really, the answers must come from your doctors.
Do you have any follow up or second opinion appointments coming up?
I’d recommend contacting the Uni-Klinik in Bonn. Ask for an appointment with Dr. Heim.
[GER] Kontaktiere mal die Uni-Klinik in Bonn und frage nach Dr. Heim. Er kennt sich mit dem Thema aus und hat auch schon wissenschaftliche Beiträge darüber geschrieben. Er kann dir sicherlich weiterhelfen.
Ich kann die CT-Bilder selbst nicht 100% lesen, aber der linke Styloid scheint mir definitiv länger zu sein. Auf der rechten Seite ist er wohl kürzer, dafür ist das ansetzende Stylohyoid-Band verknöchert (der kleine Strich, den du richtig erkannt hast, der hinter dem Kiefer etwas versteckt ist). Aber lass das von Profis abklären.
Thank you very much Michael. In february I get an MRI and with the results I go to the Bundeswehr-hospitel in Berlin, there’s a very good neurosurgery, they want to look at me. Bonn is a little bit too far for me, I’m not that mobile with my 2 little kids…
As Seenie said, we’re not doctors but it looks to me like you may have a bit of calcification on your stylohyoid ligaments. It’s not much & probably isn’t contributing significantly to your symptoms. An informed doctor should be able to determine whether or not this is so. Also, your right styloid looks complete & not blocked by anything in the last picture you sent.
Hoping you get good care when you go to the clinic in Berlin.
but so it started at the other side, where the long one is…and it took only half a year to feel the little bone then in my mouth…someone said here, that calcium is a fact, that can speed up the growth, and I took calcium every day in my pregnancy 2,5 years ago…I think, that made everything worse, but nevertheless my little daughter is a wonderful result, it was worth it!!! 
so here they are:
