Morning gauvins,
specifically about width, one factor that comes into play for me is the type of grips you use. Ive used ergon grips that for my hands, really feel nice and reduce pressure points, although like bar angle, grip angle also makes a difference.
On my Jones bars, I have ergons also, but using good foam grips will allow you to move your hands up or down the longer grip area.
So what bars and what grips are you using now? I figure that on rougher dirt roads, we are moving our hands and body around a lot more than easier road riding, so we are often changing the pressure points of hands. That said, even with my dropbars and paved roads, i switch hand positions quite regularly, even do it with the jones bars (but really don't spend that much actual time riding that bike)
and yes, I would try raising your bars a bit if you feel you should, at least to try anyway.
show us some photos of the new setup sometime