Hi cpotsky,
It is not uncommon for a dentist to tell a new patient that they have cavities, especially when that person's dentist has retired. Which usually indicates that the dentist was an older person and perhaps not as diagnostic as maybe they once had been. This is a common occurrence and people of course will question the new dentist because they trusted their original one.
In your case, based on your description of what occurred with this tooth there was evidently a deep and/or moderate cavity and/or a fracture in this tooth that had not been diagnosed by your original dentist. The new guy attempted to remove the cavity and restore the tooth and may or may not have realized it was fractured. However, the newest dentist who did the root canal tooth may have known it was fractured when he did the rc because he could have gotten abnormal movement with the tooth when instrumenting it. Taking the tooth out of occlusion is just a temporary measure and have no long term benefit when a tooth is fractured. At that point there was no reason to crown it because a root canaled tooth with a fracture is beyond repair.
The back and forth with the dentist who extracted the tooth indicates she probably does not perform too many extractions and she may have caused some splintering of the buccal ridge along the gum line. That can occur when either the tooth is badly infected and/or if too much force or an improper technique was used to remove the tooth. Sometimes the splintered bone will fill in and sometimes little pieces of it will protrude from the gum and either fall out on their own or need to be removed. They can cause the area to feel quite sore and achey. In the future if needed, it's usually best to see an oral surgeon for tooth extractions especially root canaled teeth.
It is not wise to have your teeth professionally cleaned until the extraction site closes because debris can end up in the socket. In the meantime it is important to keep your mouth very clean, by brushing, flossing, and tongue scraping. What did the oral surgeon have to say about the sinus opening?
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpotsky
Hi!
I am a 41 year old female who does not smoke and have had no previous dental problems. I saw the same dentist for 10 years and never had a problem. When he retired his practice was bought out and I continued to go because I liked and trusted the staff that stayed on. My first visit with the new dentist I all of a sudden had 4 cavities! He filled them but one caused me a lot of pain after the numbing wore off. I called and complained to the office manager but never heard back. I did not go to see another dentist for 2 years and dealt with the pain..stupid I know.
I finally broke down and saw a new dentist who was very attentive and informed me I would need a root canal. I had some issues after that and had to see the dentist who informed me that it may be cracked. He ground the surface down so that the tooth would not touch the lower tooth and the pain went away. The dentist then said we should go forward with a crown so I did. I had pain after the crown while eating and chose to ignore it. Two month later I broke down and went back in. A different dentist (mine was out of town) tapped on the tooth and I had EXTREME pain shoot through my tooth and face. The new dentist told me it was cracked and would need to be extracted.
I went back a week later and it was extracted. I was warned that the root was very close to my sinus. It took a very long hour to get the tooth out and it broke in pieces. The dentist informed me that I did in fact have a whole in my sinus now. They took another x-ray post extraction and she though she saw more fragments. She went back in and started scraping inside the hole. She said nope it is just your jaw bone. I was placed on antibiotics. I came back a week later and was in a lot of pain. The dentist found bone fragments and after numbing me she pulled them out. A week later I was back because I was still in a lot of pain. She sent me to an oral surgeon.
The oral surgeon looked at my x-ray and mouth and told me it looks like I was getting over dry socket but that he did not see any infection anymore. I was told I would experience the pressure and pain in the sinus area for about a month.
Well 4 days ago I stated experiencing new shooting pains at the tooth extraction site. I looked in my mouth and saw a white lump pushing against my gum on the side of the extraction site. I had feel and sharp lump with my tongue. I went in today and after an x-ray and 5 minutes with the dentist I was sent on my way. I was told it was new jaw bone forming and that I was healing beautifully. When asked why I still have so much pain that 3 ibprofen can't touch, I was given a shrug and told to come back in two weeks for my normal scheduled cleaning.
PLEASE is this normal? Am I over reacting? Never had issues with my mouth before and this pain is just dragging on and on! Thank you for any input. I am thinking of getting a second opinion.
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