Hi Pam,

Oh I hear you.... please don't let this frustrate you. I know you are in a miserable situation but hopefully it will be much and real soon.

Waiting 6 months for an oral surgeon is not logical at all. Do you live in the US or the UK? In the US oral surgeons will see patients on emergency basis. Chronic dental pain requiring daily pain meds constitutes an emergency.

My concerns with the general dentist extracting the tooth are:

1) RC teeth are more brittle than vital teeth. Which means he may have difficulty removing it and break it into small pieces. Many general dentists are not experienced well enough or equipped to remove those pieces without causing trauma to the bone ..... and all pieces need to be removed nothing should be left behind.

2) Upper posterior teeth can be in close proximity to the sinuses. This means that there could be a sinus communication between the root of the tooth and the sinus. Most general dentists are not experienced at dealing with a sinus communication. Oral surgeons deal with this all the time.

3) When the tooth is removed, the periodontal ligament and all necrotic tissue and bone needs to be scraped out so the bone is clean of all debris. Unfortunately, general dentists tend not to do either of those things. Oral surgeons understand the importance of debriding the socket clean. With that said, whoever you choose to see for the extraction, it would be in your best interest to express to them that you want them to debride the socket thoroughly. The reason you should mention it is because in every business people can get sloppy at times... in expressing this be done you are reassuring yourself that it will be done. Inadequate debridement can leave you with infection and neuralgic type pain. So this step of the surgery is very important.

4) Due to the extent of the pain that you have been having and since it is mimicking neuralgia... it is imperative that an experienced dentist remove this tooth and not cause any unnecessary trauma to this area of your mouth.

Regarding the advil.... only take the dosage that is effective and no more. There is no reason to start out with 3 or 4 tablets. Try 2 and if no relief in an hour, take one more. Also make sure you never take advil on an empty stomach.

It would also be very helpful if you took a probiotic supplement. Probiotics are good, healthy bacteria that are essential for life. Anytime the body is dealing with infection, illness, or chronic pain it is imperative to feed the immune system with good bacteria. Seventy percent of our immune system is in our digestive tract and keeping it healthy is very important. Probiotics are not something that the body makes on it's own. You can get it from eating sugar free fermented foods or a supplement. Yogurt... unless it is homemade yogurt without sugar, is not a good source of live bacteria as it is over processed and the bacteria has long died by the time the product reaches the store shelf. A good probiotic product to try is called Culturelle. Most drug stores and super markets carry it.

Hang in there......
Bryanna

Vowel Lady,

Okay so the tooth already had an onlay on it. This means the tooth had already been heavily drilled for the onlay. So this tooth may not have been all that healthy when she prepared it for the crown. Remember not all infection will show up radio-graphically until they are large enough to be picked up.

I realize the rc was done after the final crown was put on. The fact that the crown(s) repetitively did not fit well indicate that there was not much tooth structure remaining above the gum line and she was unable to get a clear margin. Even with the best dental labs, margins need to be precise or the crown will not fit. The crown was made large due to the impression that was taken by the dentist and sent to the lab. The lab fabricates the crown according to the impressions and nothing else. She should have seen that it didn't fit well in your bite before she permanently cemented it... that was really lame on her part.

Tapping off a crown can cause the nerves inside the tooth to be so traumatized that they never recover. I think that visit and the post visit were just icing on the cake with this tooth. By the way, posts are only put into root canaled teeth... not vital teeth. Putting a post into a vital tooth will kill it for sure. That is just not done. Even in rc teeth, post causes so much trauma to the tooth and the bone. That dental office that you went to... sounds like a torture chamber!!

Bryanna

Thank you.


OMG...I had no idea that posts were not put into non rc teeth. Good
THAT WAS WHEN THE PAIN FROM HEXX STARTED. Shortly after the post. AND the oral surgeons have told me my trig. Nerve is unusually close to the surface.

Remember, I never had pain originally with the tooth. My DIL was seven months pregnant and I was expected to help when the baby came. An onlay fell off. I asked for it to be put back. I didn't want to be in a different city and possibly need dental work. Then I walked into Satan's Dental Office.

The rc tooth adjacent to tooth 31...may have been part of the issue. But , there was plenty of insanity going on as well.

I do feel very abused, damaged, hurt...etc. i just have to move forward, but with extreme caution. And I am more aware of the root canal issue. Considering how I feel about dentists and what I've experienced....this rc stuff does NOT surprise me. I'm reading...

I tell everyone to be very careful when choosing a dentist !!!!

Hi I am in canada not sure about the surgeons I googled and found 4 a three hour drive from here. I'm going to phone tomorrow and see what their office says.
What happens if he misses a piece? This tooth was done 5 years ago (it is a dark color) and again two weeks ago.
Four advil takes the pressure feeling away in my cheek and some of the pain. Anything less does nothing. Glad you said daily pain meds is an emergency, I'm so sick of dr.s and dentists just telling me to take pain meds I don't want meds! Anyway I recently visited an ent specialist who thinks I might be suffering from migraines which are making me dizzy causing jaw pain and ringing ears, and back neck pain. Any thoughts on this? I'm hoping it's all tooth related. Incidentally 4 advil does nothing for this nothing at all.

Sorry for the tone I'm having a very bad day and really appreciate you ladies replies.

Pam

I've had migraines for twenty years. I use to write a column about them on a medical website. I doubt it's a migraine. I would stick with a good oral surgeon. If you can find one that is also an MD, that would be ideal! I went to an ENT originally as well, and he said I had a TMJ problem, but later decided I had ATN. Sometimes I think great pain causes people to clench their teeth and this causes a TMJ issue or even a migraine, but I don't think these odd symptoms are either TMJ or migraine to begin with.

I suppose since I clearly have nerve pain, my neurologist helped me the most. I also liked the oral surgeon who was also an MD.

I just remembered that there is one antibiotic (can't recall which one...but I think Doxycycline...need to check spelling) that for some reason reduces inflammation. So during my particular dental / nerve mess, when the dentists put me on this med, my pain was lessened a little.

I hope you can find an experienced and wise doctor and/or oral surgeon and fast! My heart goes out to you!

Vowel Lady,

Teeth do not have to hurt when there is an infection. I know that sounds ridiculous but if the bacteria is draining and there is no swelling, most of the time there is little or no pain. It is when the inflammation closes off the drain site when the pain sets in. I have known countless dental patients who swear they had no pain only to find a medical emergency abscess on their xrays. Go figure...

I am sorry that you have endured such dental failure. You are right in that it is so important to find a dentist who is not only well skilled but a good doctor too. With that said, even the crappiest dentists will do better work on a patient who is well informed. Almost like a child who only behaves if someone is watching....

Bryanna

Pam,

Okay you live in Canada. We've had many people here who live in Canada and had some difficulty finding an oral surgeon. Sometimes you have to do a private pay, is that what it's called..??

Pam go to this site and type in your zip code. Let me know who if anyone comes up...http://iaomt.org/find-a-doctor/searc...ist-physician/

Migraines can be related to teeth and/or muscular problems of the jaw. However, migraines are often related to your diet.

Bryanna

I have been referred to Neurologist here's hoping that doesn't take 4+ months to get into, and that they have some good news. I really don't want to have to take drugs for the rest of my life. Regardless I'm getting this tooth out.
Vowel lady I am going to phone and find out what antibiotics I was the time before last trey helped to most, maybe that's why.

Bryanna...I see your point about dentists performing better when they know you are an informed patient.

On a much smaller scale than the issues we have been talking about, I once refused to take an xray with a dentist who had old equipment. She didn't get new equipment until her licensing organization or some other governing agency forced her.

Thank goodness you are willing to keep us informed. Thank goodness.

Pam...I think (fingers crossed) you are on the right path. A neuro might be able to rule out nerve damage or give you something that will help. Maybe, even if it is a nerve issue, it will only be temporary. And he or she could evaluate for migraines too. And pulling the tooth out might be best given all that Bryanna has informed us about. Is the tooth well hidden in your mouth???? You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Vowel lady of course this tooth is very much in my smile. At least it's not one of the insisors I am only 30 but not vain hopefully this hole in my smile won't bug me too much. I think a small price to pay if I get pain free. Would have pulled it years ago if anyone could have told me for sure which tooth was bothering me. Had massage today on the masiter muscles I feel way better. Costs more than advil but works way better. Unfortunately can't have one of those everyday. I feel it more just in the tooth area now instead of everywhere.
Vowel lady I'm so sorry for all you dental troubles! They sound a awful, I will pray for you too hope you can get something's worked out. I was greatful I could afford the dentist... Hindsight I'd have been better off 6-7 years ago if I had no money and got the tooth pulled.
Oh life here's hoping this is the worst that ever happens.