First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to reread all my posts about these teeth. I really can't thank you enough, Bryanna. And I think you are right, that I fractured the tooth (I felt the crown move when I was chewing something, then the pain began) last November and that pain led me to get the root canal in December. Not sure what happened in the case of the second root canal; I was still feeling cold sensitivity from the root-canal next to it? I guess it COULD be fractured; the RCT was pretty hard-core as all of the canals were calcified. Even with anesthesia it felt like a jackhammer. All of this compounded by gum pain, TMJ (which grew worse as time went on), etc...
Just to clarify: I'm not uncertain about pulling the teeth; I've realized they both needed to be extracted for some time. I'm just worried about the making things worse, since I now regret every decision I've made so far. Now I am second-guessing myself with everything. So I have no idea how to do it the most gentle way possible.
It seems logical to pull both of them together from my perspective. I want the pain gone ASAP, and the recovery happening at the same time rather than weeks (or months?) also makes sense. On the other hand, I also realize that two teeth is probably double the trauma for my jaw, which is already in spasm from everything it's been subjected to in the last year. I never used to get headaches, ever; now i have them every day, sometimes for most of the day.
I want to have both of these teeth out this coming week. But I'm scared that if something goes wrong with that, I will be in an even deeper mess than I am now. Double the risk, double the trauma? But on the other hand, what you said about waiting also worries me: if I just pull one, the other one will still be painful all through my recovery from the first extraction, and may interfere with the outcome.
I've waited patiently on the advice of my dentists; now I am fed up with these teeth. Of course, I don't WANT to have either of them out; I wish I could roll back the clock and not have either RCT. They are both painful, and have been since the RCTs. But now it's just a matter of timing the extractions to do the least harm to my jaw (and the rest of me). I know you probably can't advise me this specifically, but if it were your two teeth, would you extract them simultaneously?
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Originally Posted by Bryanna
sadie,
I re read all of your posts about these two teeth. I would not be surprised if one or both of them were fractured. Of course this is often difficult to diagnose until the teeth are removed because the fracture often does not show up on the xray and it is usually too far down the tooth to be seen clinically.
Aside from the fracture possibility.... the teeth are root canaled which automatically means they are unhealthy. So when you ask me about removing them... the only thing I can honestly say to that is.... ask yourself if you are comfortable with retaining two chronically ill teeth. If you are... then your dentists will re treat these teeth again and again as long as you are willing to do that. I know that sounds horrible .... but it is the way most dentistry is practiced all over the world because most people have no clue what is really going on and they are afraid to have their teeth removed :/
I don't think the decision to remove teeth is an easy one... not at all. And there are consequences to removing teeth that need to be considered prior to taking them out. However, on a personal level when I'm faced with two options and one of them is likely to cause me a systemic (possibly permanent) problem, I will always choose the healthier option. But that is just me.... you need to decide what is best for you. I am here to give you the information that you are not getting from your dentists.... and it's not easy for me to give it to you :/
Two teeth being removed in a row is a bit more complicated than removing one in the fact that the bone is going to more open than compared to removing one tooth at a time. On the flip side of that.... the surgery is one time and the healing takes place together. If you were to remove them at different times... you would have to discuss how long in between you should wait. If both teeth are causing you pain and one is removed, you will still have pain.
It is never ideal to have missing teeth as that can impact your ability to chew properly and cause pain in the TMJ area. If you could plan on replacing them within a reasonable amount of time, then you would minimize those complications. Ask you dentist if you are a candidate for a removable partial denture....at least until you could decide about the implants.
Bryanna
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