What is wrong with my tooth

[MarkZA]

Hello

Last week Tuesday I had excruciating pain with my lower back right molar tooth. It felt as if the nerve was exposed and every time anything I ate brushed against it I would get this sharp pain rushing through my mouth. So I went to the dentist and he did a cavity filling.

Unfortunately what has happened since in terms of pain is far worse than the initial problem that I went to the dentist for. Once the local anesthetics had worn off the real pain started. From all my searching on the internet what I have guessed is what happened was that the block injection the dentist gave me missed it mark and as a result there was muscle damage. The whole side of my face was swollen and cramped although the tooth itself was fine. I was taking pain killers every 30 minutes, along with muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatory. I could not sleep for the first 3 nights after the filling as lying down made the pain even worse

On Saturday, 4 days after the filling, this pain eventually started to ease off, its not totally gone but it is manageable and I am not on pain killers any more. Unfortunately a new problem has begun whereby every time I bite down on the tooth with the filling I get a sharp pain in my mouth, similar to the initial pain I had that I went to the dentist for

Some more research has led me to believe that this is now either

1. A high filling which puts pressure on this tooth when I bite. Although I am not sure this is the problem because even just pushing on the tooth with my finger hurts. Also once I have pressed once on the tooth the pain subsides and I can push on it again and there is no pain. But leave the tooth for a while and push/bite on it again and the pain is back
2. I have a cracked tooth. What is strange is that this pain has only now begun 4 days after the initial filling
3. I have a loose filling
4. I have an abscess

I have an appointment with the dentist again tomorrow but am really worried that he is going to hurt me again or make this worse. I don't want to go through the same pain I have just been through this last couple of days

Any advice, thoughts, experiences or information appreciated

Thanks

 

[Dr.Vishwanath]

Hi there. I can really understand your situation right now. The signs and symptoms what you are showing right now is of Acute or chronic apical periodontitis or severe pulpitis. What it means is that your dental caries or the tooth decay has already reached the inner layer of the tooth where the nerve of the tooth is present. So the recommended procedure will most likely involve a root canal treatment. This treatment should relieve you of your pain immediately. You will also need to be under antibiotic prophylaxis for 3-5 days depending on your dentist. Hope you recover soon.. Take Care..Bye

 

[MarkZA]

Hi.

So I went back to the dentist who now removed the original filling and put in a temporary filling which has sedative in it to see if the nerve would relax and told me to come back in 3 months to see if I would need a root canal. While the general pain is now much better and I am taking less pain killers I still cannot bite or chew on the tooth as it hurts very much

So on the advice of my mother I went to see her dentist today who used a really sophisticated machine to take an x-ray of my mouth (it even played classical music while doing this). He then showed me the X-Ray on the PC and discussed it with me

According to him what the other dentist yesterday had done was the start of an emergency root canal as he says he can see that there has been drilling into the root canal. Although the other dentist yesterday didn't mention anything about doing a root canal. Also if you do a root canal should the tooth not be sensitive anymore, I guess I will need a complete root canal for that as the tooth is still very sore when I bite on it or try to chew on it. I have been avoiding any chewing on that side of my mouth now

The dentist I saw today said that from what he sees on the x-ray I will definitely need a route canal and waiting 3 months for the root to settle down makes no sense as the root canal has already been exposed. He recommends I wait a couple of days to see if the pain subsides and then we do a root canal in the next week or two as opposed to 3 months so that I don't develop and abscess and loose the tooth by waiting to long

I am really annoyed with the original dentist as I think he made things worse and still charged me for everything he did. He didn't even take an x-ray to see what might be wrong with the tooth

All I know now is I cannot chew on this tooth or but on it and I cant live with this pain.

 

[Dr.Vishwanath]

Even I agree with the second dentist. Waiting for 3 months is absolutely foolish and if in the Xray it is showing that your root canals have exposed then it is better to continue with the root canal treatment and finish it without waiting. The temporary cement which has been filled in your tooth is a kind of anti inflammatory and anti microbial. It will not treat the cause. It only relieves the symptoms. I your case I feel the second dentist is right and you should follow his/her treatment plan..

Regards.

 

[MarkZA]

So I need to play a bit of devils advocate here

Since the first dentist has removed the original filling and put in the temporary filling which was done on Tuesday the tooth has started to feel a whole lot better. There is no pain in general and I can even chew on the tooth softly. Yes if I bite hard there is still pain I think, I havent really tried that as as much as possible I am trying to avoid using the tooth

Now I am wondering if the original dentist might not have been right in saying to wait 3 months and see if the tooth heals itself, lay down new layers o dentine I think it is. I know the original dentist didnt start a root canal so maybe its not necessary?