Hi Nell Bowen,

Yes, seek a new dentist. This guy is not willing to listen to your complaints. He has not addressed them all either. Adjusting the one tooth was obviously not enough as you may be hitting the newly crowned one when you grind your teeth. The paper to test the bite is not 100% accurate when the patient is lying down in the chair. The patient needs to be in an upright position to check the bite properly because as we lay back.. .our jaw moves backwards... as we sit up our jaw aligns more forward. Did he have you lying back in the chair when he did the adjustment? Most dentists do and this is one huge reason why people are then referred to the endodontist :/

Regarding your night guard. The OTC guards are not adequate for someone who has a bruxing habit. They can actually do more harm than good because they do not fit the individual bite.... they are a one size fits nobody. ALL night guards need to be adjusted any time there is new dentistry done in the mouth.

Your problem could very well be as simple as a bite adjustment and getting a new night guard fabricated for you. If it is that and it is not taken care of, the nerve will become irritated and it will die.

The other thing that can be going on is the tooth may be fractured. It is not always able to be picked up on an xray... so diagnosing it can be difficult. One way to try to diagnose it is to have the patient bite down on a bite stick as it is placed on various areas of the biting surface. The patient would be uncomfortable if they bit down where the fracture was leading to. Did he do that?

It is typical for dentists to become impatient with common issue like yours. It is easier for them to just send you off to the endodontist and wash his hands of the problem. I'm sorry to even tell you that.... but it is so unfortunately true.

My suggestion would be to either go back to this guy and tell him you are not going to the endodontist... have him check the bite more thoroughly for high spots and fractures and let him made you a better fitting night guard. Or seek the same work up from a different dentist.

Bryanna