Yggdrasill

Is it just me, or does pain feel worse in the mouth? I was at the dentist's a couple of hours ago and the anaesthetic has now worn off. This is something that I have observed for some time, when I hurt a leg it will still be really painful, but the pain will to some extent feel distant, but when I've been at the dentist's the pain is an all-consuming painfest. Why is this? Is it because different parts of the nervous system are being used? Is it because of the distance the nervous impulses have to travel?

Wounded King

I'd imagine it would have something to do with how densely the area is innervated with pain receptive cells. Similarly it may be connected with the proportion of the brain given over to that particular organ. Looking at a sensory homonculus you will see that the tongue has a really quite disproportionate amount.

Misso

What Wounded King said, the mouth is very densely innervated. In the mouth, say, ten nervous cells are touched by the tip of a toothpick, whereas on the back only one would be touched. This would make the mouth ten times more senstive (I don't actually know the real ratio).
You might have seen some of those drawings, depicting the size of the various parts of the body in relation to their sensitivity. Head, hands and feet are disproportionately large, tongue and lips are monstruous; legs, arms and back are very small.

HeatherD

It's just you

No seriously, the mouth can be quite sensitive, due as others have said, to the density of receptors.

Personally, the worst pain I have ever experienced was from appendicitis. It wasn't localized to my lower right abdomen, it was my entire abdomen that was in pain. The intensity and scope of the pain was so bad I could hardly breathe or talk through the pain.

For sheer intensity try electrolysis on your upper lip just under one of the nostril openings. I can imagine what it is like to undergo painful torture.