I first want to apologize for how long this will be but I don't want to start multiple threads for one person and I want you to have the full story. This board seems like a good place for advice so I hope you guys can offer me some!

I've been going to the same practice most of my life. The kind where many dentists work in the same office so I've been worked on by many different ones over the years. The last one I had there who I consider GOOD and always requested left years ago to start his own practice and no one had info on where. Since him, it's been one sucky one after another that I had to keep asking to not be given again.

Finally I got a young dentist who was personable, attentive, and seemed knowledgeable so I stuck to him only I've come to see with all the problems I've had with him the past two years that he isn't good either (things falling out the next day, things not feeling right and constantly needing to be redone) and I'm convinced the increase in my dental problems are a result of his shoddy work.

I was just given another dentist new there older and I'm assuming more experienced because the head dentist trusts enough to make him his second but I don't care for his manner at all and the jury's still out on his work. ON TO THE PROBLEMS AND QUESTIONS lol

I started getting pain in my upper right. It felt like stuff was seeping in my filling and getting at my nerve. I could avoid having any pain at all by making sure I didn't have anything sugary and always rinsing/brushing after eating/drinking but I knew it should still be looked at. I also noticed one of my front teeth had intermittent shooting pain in the center of it from touch (not hot or cold) and I was concerned that it's on the verge of dying.

I went in and my dentist and tech took xrays. He said that yes, the filling had cracked and was letting stuff in and I needed a root canal for that one because of how big and deep the filling was. He also said that I had new cavities, new rot showing on work that was just done a few months ago, a new front tooth that would need a root canal, but that he didn't see anything going on with the front tooth I mentioned.

After he did my eval, one staffer whispered to the one checking me out to have the new dentist look over it to make sure he agrees. So I went back in with the new dentist and other tech and they redid all of the xrays again. He didn't say anything to me, he just stood there taking notes and staring at them for like five minutes, then sent me back out. I made the appointment for the upper right root canal first since it's where I had a toothache.

I noticed a week after grit on the lower mid left and when I spit it out, saw some bits silver, some black, some white. I assumed filling, rot, and tooth. I could feel a big hole that wasn't there before. I called to make an appointment to have the filling fixed. I also mentioned that I can now feel my front tooth crown (put in last year) clicking back and forth sometimes when I eat and since that started, the gum above it is now hurting so I wanted that looked at as well.

I went for the filling appointment Thursday. Before I arrived, they asked if I also wanted to have my upper right root canal done afterward since there was a cancellation and I said fine. In the golden days, they'd give me antibiotics first but they don't bother anymore and I understand it's partially my fault for not insisting but I don't know that much about teeth to have known if I should.

Anyway, I went in and the new dentist said he's going to do my upper right and left fillings. I was confused and said that I was there to get the lower left fixed and wasn't I getting a root canal on the upper right? He said he was doing those two first and that the root canal is farther back right. He looked at the lower left and said "Yeah, I see it." He did the upper fillings then said, "You're all set" and started lifting up the chair to get ready for his next appointment.

I said "Um... " because he didn't do anything to the lower left hole I came in for and didn't check my moving crown. I should have spoken up then but I figured since he had an appointment to get ready for and I had to get the root canal done, I'd ask someone else afterward because I don't care for his manner anyway and preferred talking to someone else.

So I went in to get the root canal. This was a new guy, I don't know if a dentist or endodontist but they did say that he comes in specifically to do root canals so maybe he IS an endo, I'm going to ask. He reminded me of the golden days. He introduced himself, showed me the xray of the tooth, explained what he was doing, then sat there and did it, always checking on me. It took maybe 45 minutes. FYI that worries me now because an hourish has always been the norm for me with root canals but I'm seeing people on this board say their RCs took 2-3 hours. Should it take that long?

Anyway, he took another xray after opening stuff up then after finishing. He said he put medicine in there and that all the nerve was out and then I'd just be scheduling to come back and get a crown. I asked him about the lower left hole since he seemed more personable and he looked at it and said that because of it's depth or shape or something that if someone put anything in there, it would just come out again.

I then noticed the head dentist in the next room taking notes and asked if he wouldn't mind taking a look at my moving crown. He said he would but then the new jerky dentist walked by and he said, "Actually, since he's back, ask him". Ugh. So I asked him and he just stood there looking at me and said, "Yeah, you mentioned it." And I said, "So... can you check it to see if it's loose, please?" And he kind of huffed and said fine and took me into the next room and said look, we either leave it or take it out. If it feels solid, we won't take it off because that can do damage.

I told him that's fine it's just that it only shifts SOMETIMES and then locks back into place and I wouldn't care if not for the fact that the gum is starting to hurt and I'm afraid the seal is broken or something and that stuff is now getting under the crown. He said he doubts that and what I said doesn't make sense because it's either loose or not, it wouldn't become tight again if it was loose (whatever). He tried to wiggle it and said it's solid so leave it alone until it falls out.

It's now Sunday and the tooth with the root canal hurts like hell as if it's infected. I know it's possible that it's pain from the procedure itself and the fact that I had so may needles poked in for numbing in that same area but every single other root canal I ever had, even one on a hot tooth, after it was done, there was soreness but by the end of the day, I was fine, no pain at all, and haven't had a single problem with any of them since.

So for me to still be in pain three days later and to the point where I can't bite down on that side, it'd be hard to believe nothing is wrong. It's a throbbing warm pain like an infection and feels kind of like pressure. I'm going to see my doctor today to get a prescription for antibiotics just in case even though from what I'm reading here it sounds like it won't do anything.

Here are my questions...

1) All they told me about the lower left at the desk is that they're waiting for insurance authorization for a crown for it. That's fine but is there nothing that can be put in there temporarily in the mean time? My golden age dentists would never have just left a gaping hole in my tooth let alone not explained why they weren't treating it. Even if the reason is that it might come back out like the other guy suggested, that's better than nothing. I'm afraid that it's going to fracture the tooth due to being exposed since the hole is so big that everything I eat goes in there, gets compacted, then starts putting pressure on the gum and walls of the tooth as I chew, which I told them. What should I ask to be done to fill this gap?

2) What should I insist be done with the root canal? Should I insist on being referred to an endodontist? I'm not interested in getting it extracted unless the pain won't go away no matter what. I've read here that root canals always have infections in them even if you're not in pain so you should just get your teeth removed. Being that I've had root canals where it's now 10 years later without issue, I hesitate to think teeth should be ripped out just because they've had a root canal under the assumption that every root canal tooth is full of infection.

THIS tooth, however, definitely has problems so I want to know what I should ask to have looked at and checked before even considering extraction or retreatment. My main fear is that it wasn't necessary. Can someone explain why a big deep filling = root canal? I came in because the filling cracked. I had no problem with the tooth before that. Why would replacing the filling not be an option? Even if it cracked again in 5 years I'd rather that than have been told I HAD to have a root canal if that wasn't true.

3) I've read that fillings in back teeth are more concave than the front but the filling that guy did on the upper left feels abnormally concave. It feels noticeably deep and the surroundig tooth feels noticeably sharp as if there's a hole rather than a filling and I've never had an upper filling feel like that. Can they just pack more of something on top of it to fill it in a bit or would they have to redo the filling?

4) What could be going on with my front crown and how can I protect it? I know they think I'm nuts but I've had that crown in for a while and that movement is new and obvious and even if it does't make sense, it DOES seem to tighten back up on its own. I'd rather not just wait until it falls off because I fear that by then, my tooth underneath will have suffered decay. I agree that I don't want them to try to rip it off if it won't come off on its own but is there some way they could seal around it or check to make sure the seal has no space?

5) How long can a tooth be dying before anything shows up on xray? My front tooth that gets the weird inner pain from touch every once in a while, I know they said they see nothing but I read on some boards where no one would do anything to help because they didn't see anything until it was too late and the person lost the tooth. Is there anything I can do to be preemptive if the xrays show nothing?

6) This is just curiosity, is it normal to always put a crown on both front teeth? Back when I had a root canal in my front tooth, when he shaved it down to get ready to fit it for a temporary crown, when he let me look at it I saw that he shaved down the root canal tooth and the healthy tooth next to it. I freaked out because no one said they were touching the other tooth but it was too late after the fact, it was already shaved down to a nub. He said he HAD to put a crown on that one too because it's next to it. Is that a cosmetic standard? For the record, I don't recall which of the front ones had the canal so I'm most scared about the moving crown because I'm afraid it's on the one that was the healthy tooth.

7) I read that it's illegal for a dentist to refuse you a copy of your records. Is that true? Months ago I asked the staffer for a copy of my treatment history there and she gave me an attitude and said no, unless you're moving to a new dentist, you don't need to see your records. I've had so much work done and I want proof of it all since I've also read about dentist's tossing stuff out or modifying things to cover their asses. Do I have the right to demand a copy of my entire folder including xrays and if they refuse again (that staffer is no longer there), what's my recourse? Who can I report it to? Should I start with my union since that's who my dental plan is from?

8) Last question, most importantly, I want to be able to get second opinions on things but no one ever details HOW they got a second opinion. From what I see, you can't just walk into an office you're not a patient of and ask them to look at something and give you an opinion to take back to your actual dentist. So for people saying "I just went and got a second opinion", what did you do exactly?

Did you make an appointment somewhere and bring a copy of your records and they gave you a free consultation? Did you have to sign up as if you were a new patient with your insurance and pay a copay for being seen or pay out of pocket? I want to find a new permanent practice but until then, how do I go about just getting advice from another dentist/endodontist?

Thanks all!!!!!!