Hi Bryanna,

It's me, nukuspot from the thread below about the root canal tooth extraction. It got so long down there and things have changed a lot so I hope it is OK to start a new thread.

Today is day 22 since the RCT extraction. The major pain is going away each day. The intense pain in my jaw is almost gone. However the original pain, which was why I got the RCT extracted in the first place, remains. It is pretty similar to what it felt like before extraction. It is a dull earache in my one ear, and a pain in the little triangle of gum that was between 19/20. Since 19 is gone, I expected the pain to go, but that triangle of gum that is now next to 20 and an empty space still hurts, especially when touched with floss, fingers, tongue, waterpik, etc.

I saw my general IAOMT dentist yesterday because I was also still having issues with #20, it was still a little loose and also had a bruised feeling when my teeth touched which made it almost impossible to eat. He took the carbon paper and had me tap and move my teeth on it, he also had me wear my night appliance and did the same thing with the paper. He said that since 19 was gone my bite had changed which is normal, and extra pressure was on one cusp of 20. He filed it down just a bit, keeping it in occlusion but just removing "a hair" of the cusp and immediately it was easier to talk and eat, though that tooth still feels strange in my mouth. He also poked around the gum around 20 at the time and I jumped when it hit that area which has been tender for the last year. He said he clinically can't see anything wrong, he does not know what is causing the gum tenderness in just that one spot (it is the side that was closest to where the RCT was, and just in the front (gum) side, not the back (tongue) side. It is very specific. No issues with the gum around the rest of the tooth.

Do you have any idea what it could be? I know I did a good thing getting the RCT out, but I admit I am bummed that it made no difference to either my ear or gum pain issues.

Finally, in the extraction site itself on the side next to #20 , there is an area of tissue coming out of the hole which looks dark pink with red flecks. Is this a normal appearance of tissue at 3 weeks post op? The rest of the hole just looks like, well, a hole. This looks like a blobby thing. It is level at the gum line and not growing very quickly. I forgot to ask him yesterday about it but since he was in my mouth I imagine he would have mentioned it if it was a concern? I googled it and it looks a lot like a small "epulis granuloma or pyogenic granuloma." I don't want to over google myself into a worry so I thought I would ask here.

I also saw my TMJ dentist while I was there who modified my night appliance to make it smaller since I could not keep that huge hard plastic thing in at all during sleep, saying it is less effective on the TMJ joint but still will prevent clenching. I don't know yet if it will work or not but he said to give it a month.

Well, that's my update! I hope you can reply when you have a chance.