- Joined
- Jun 23, 2022
- Messages
- 6
Hey all,
So, I have severe dental anxiety. I hadn't been to the dentist in 5+ years but decided that this was the year I needed to address things. I was also feeling some pain from impacted wisdom teeth and knew that those likely needed to be dealt with.
So, over the course of 2 months (starting in April), I had my wisdom teeth removed and on the recommendation of my dentist, had a filling (on 17) and a crown (on 18). The crown had quite a few complications and required many visits. I want to say about 6-8.
A couple days before they put in the permanent crown, I started feeling a slight pain when biting down on that area. At first I wasn't sure if it was the crowned tooth that was causing me pain or the tooth above it. I brought it up to my dentist and they thought it was likely just the pressure on the crown. So, once I had the permanent in, they adjusted my bite. I had to go back for a second bite adjustment and some cement removal a couple days later and was still experiencing the pain. So, I brought it up again. My dentist this time adjusted the bite in my upper tooth (as I also have a filling there). After this adjustment, the pain was much worse. Though it is only painful when I bite down in that area. And only when I bite on food or objects-- not when I clench my teeth together. No pain when I push on the area. And it seems to be very localized. I can bite down in some areas back there as long as it doesn't hit that one spot.
I waited a few weeks, hoping that maybe it was just pain from all the dental work that I had had over the past couple months. But after 3 weeks, the pain hadn't gone away. So, I went back to my dentist, who suggested that it might be the ligament around the tooth that was swollen from the dental work. They recommended that I take a few days of large doses of Ibuprofen and see if the pain subsided.
It didn't, so they referred me to an Endodontist. I just visited them yesterday morning. They did a couple tests and determined that the pain was present in both 14&15. From what I understand, they said they thought it was fluid shifting around in my teeth and causing pain. I don't understand this thoroughly-- I was also upset (because anxiety) and I wasn't in a great frame of mind to ask questions. They said the only 2 treatment options would be either getting both teeth crowned or jumping straight to a root canal. This seems crazy to me because there's nothing visibly wrong with these teeth--that why my dentist referred me to the endo in the first place. But I'm not an expert, which is why I decided to post here.
Is there really no other treatment option for this mysterious pain? Could it be something else that the dentist or endo didn't mention? Should I get a second opinion?
It just seems as though the endo wasn't super sure what the cause was and just wanted to try a treatment option. He said try getting them crowned, but if that doesn't work, come back and get a root canal. But it seems crazy to me to remove good portions of my molars just to hope it will stop the pain.
Any advice you can give would be appreciated. I also have x-rays if that would be helpful to share.
TLDR: After a lot of dental work, I'm now being told that I need 2 additional crowns (on 14&15) to treat a mystery pain. Do I really?
So, I have severe dental anxiety. I hadn't been to the dentist in 5+ years but decided that this was the year I needed to address things. I was also feeling some pain from impacted wisdom teeth and knew that those likely needed to be dealt with.
So, over the course of 2 months (starting in April), I had my wisdom teeth removed and on the recommendation of my dentist, had a filling (on 17) and a crown (on 18). The crown had quite a few complications and required many visits. I want to say about 6-8.
A couple days before they put in the permanent crown, I started feeling a slight pain when biting down on that area. At first I wasn't sure if it was the crowned tooth that was causing me pain or the tooth above it. I brought it up to my dentist and they thought it was likely just the pressure on the crown. So, once I had the permanent in, they adjusted my bite. I had to go back for a second bite adjustment and some cement removal a couple days later and was still experiencing the pain. So, I brought it up again. My dentist this time adjusted the bite in my upper tooth (as I also have a filling there). After this adjustment, the pain was much worse. Though it is only painful when I bite down in that area. And only when I bite on food or objects-- not when I clench my teeth together. No pain when I push on the area. And it seems to be very localized. I can bite down in some areas back there as long as it doesn't hit that one spot.
I waited a few weeks, hoping that maybe it was just pain from all the dental work that I had had over the past couple months. But after 3 weeks, the pain hadn't gone away. So, I went back to my dentist, who suggested that it might be the ligament around the tooth that was swollen from the dental work. They recommended that I take a few days of large doses of Ibuprofen and see if the pain subsided.
It didn't, so they referred me to an Endodontist. I just visited them yesterday morning. They did a couple tests and determined that the pain was present in both 14&15. From what I understand, they said they thought it was fluid shifting around in my teeth and causing pain. I don't understand this thoroughly-- I was also upset (because anxiety) and I wasn't in a great frame of mind to ask questions. They said the only 2 treatment options would be either getting both teeth crowned or jumping straight to a root canal. This seems crazy to me because there's nothing visibly wrong with these teeth--that why my dentist referred me to the endo in the first place. But I'm not an expert, which is why I decided to post here.
Is there really no other treatment option for this mysterious pain? Could it be something else that the dentist or endo didn't mention? Should I get a second opinion?
It just seems as though the endo wasn't super sure what the cause was and just wanted to try a treatment option. He said try getting them crowned, but if that doesn't work, come back and get a root canal. But it seems crazy to me to remove good portions of my molars just to hope it will stop the pain.
Any advice you can give would be appreciated. I also have x-rays if that would be helpful to share.
TLDR: After a lot of dental work, I'm now being told that I need 2 additional crowns (on 14&15) to treat a mystery pain. Do I really?