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The Thriller

The Thriller

Well-Known Member
Hey y'all! Obviously, I'll rely on the pros who went to a decade of school for the final say. But I just wondered if any of you have experienced this (or something similar).

About two years ago I had a cavity in a tooth in my upper left potion of my mouth filled. It never quite felt right and sometimes led to some sensitivity. The dentist sanded it down thinking that it was just a bit high. He even replaced the filling at one point. But even after all of this, the left side of my jaw just wasn't the same.

Now, for the past 6 months I've experienced a constant pain emitting from that side of my mouth. Chewing has become extremely painful, even eating things like chips or bread hurts. I went to the dentist yesterday to get this checked out and now he believes it's an infection (absess) in the tooth/gum that I had a root canal I had done about 12 years ago. He referred me to a specialist, someone who performs root canals on teeth that have had them done already.

Anyone else experience this?

I'm a little worried since:

* I've lost faith in the dentist since this has been a problem for 2 years ever since he filled in the cavity next to the tooth I've had the root canal done on. Coincidence?
* Even with insurance, this operation isn't going to be cheap. What happens if it doesn't solve it?
 
Btw, I've only had a few fillings and one root canal done in my life. So I don't sure much experience with dental operations. Do teeth with feelings in them generally have increased sensitivity to heat and cold? Pressure from chewing?
 
Go to the specialist as soon as you can. An absess can get dangerous(and crazy painful) fast. It's an infection in your face. Get it taken care of.
 
Bro you need a new dentist, hit up modern denistry in Jordan landing, Dr. Swensen is bad ***.
 
I had a similar situation.

Let me start by saying I avoid the dentist as best I can due to a traumatic visit to a hack when I was about 9 years old. I broke a tooth while skateboarding, didn't dare tell my mom and eventually ended up with an exposed nerve and abscess. Mom took me to the dentist who performed a root canal but the dolt did a poor job numbing my mouth and I essentially had a root canal with no anesthesia.

Back to your situation. I had similar pain for several years that I learned to live with. It never spread, just stayed in that one small area. It only really hurt when I bit down on that tooth or when I would floss around that tooth. I finally gave up and went to the dentist. Turns out I had a small pocket of infection. Dentist told me that I had a natural void in my upper pallet which was infected but the infection had just stayed in that void. It never spread, just stayed in that one small area. The void was located above the tooth that I thought was causing me pain. Turns out that pressure on the infected area when I used that tooth was what was really hurting and not the tooth.

Put me on an anti-biotic and within 2-3 days I felt 100% better. That said, I was told that I was lucky because infection has a tendency to eat away at the bone and he was somewhat mystified how it hadn't gotten much worse when I had had the infections for that long. So in a nut shell, yeah, go see the dentist... a different one from the sound of it.
 
I would recommend to stop posting immediately and get to a new dentist.
Then take time off from the internet while you mend and age gracefully.
 
Go to the specialist, you probably need a root canal.

Some background here:

Your mouth is disgusting (not just you, but everyone's). We fill it with food, we put all sorts of crap in it (and those of you who don't wash your hands after the bathroom, you literally put crap in your mouth when you touch something then stick it in your mouth, or chew on your nails, etc).

Point is, there is a TON of bacteria. Then you don't brush or floss and you get a cavity. The thing about bacteria, is it is really small. We have methods to get rid of the bacteria, but they are not fool proof. They work most of the time. Sometimes, before you even go to the dentist, the bacteria is already in the nerve. It may not hurt, but it doesn't mean it isn't infected. So, you go to the dentist, everything feels ok. The dentist tells you that you need a filling, you get it done. Unfortunately, the bacteria had already made it to the nerve, and you need a root canal.

That sucks.

Next, every filling you get done is a surgery. It's not cool surgery that you get flowers and dinner from your neighbors, but it is surgery. Sometimes you have surgery on your tooth and the tooth just gives up, the nerve dies, you have pain and you need a rct.

Those aren't the dentist's fault. It's called **** happens and unfortunately it happened to you.

Everyone could put dentist's out of business right now if you would eat right, drink water, and brush and floss. But we don't (me included), we get cavities and I still have a job.

NOW, (if you made it this far), on to your situation.

A couple of things could have happened:

1 - the decay was close to the nerve, the dentist tried to do you a solid and fill it when he should have done the root canal from day one. Maybe the dentist did an absolutely amazing job on your filling and it's a miracle it lasted this long before the root canal. I don't do people "solids" like this, because then when I do a great job and it doesn't work, somehow it's my fault. I'd have to see the X-ray to know if this was a possibility.

2 - the decay seemed small, the dentist cleaned the decay out, but unfortunately the bacteria was already deep enough into the tooth that a root canal needed to happen.

3 - your dentist is a hack, ****ed you up, and now is pawning you off on a specialist. That could happen, but it happens A LOT less than you think. Odds are, 99 times out of 100, it was one of the first two options.

The root canal isn't a bad procedure, it will probably be expensive, you will need a crown and buildup afterwards. Your other option could be pulling the tooth.
 
Last edited:
Also, this is why it's so important to trust your Doctor. They are supposed to know what's best but in most cases there are multiple ways to treat every condition, and each may be effective. You have to trust them because someone may have the same problem but different treatment.

It's ok to shop around. It's ok to ask questions. Ask if your decay was big. Have him show you the X-ray. Ask if it could have been prevented. If you don't like their response, find another Dr.

If you don't trust your Dr then you won't be happy with the outcome no matter how good/bad they are.
 
And you usually get what you pay for. I'd recommend a Dr that owns his office, is maybe a little more than average expense, and you are comfortable with.
 
green said:
Go to the specialist, you probably need a root canal.

Some background here:

Your mouth is disgusting (not just you, but everyone's). We fill it with food, we put all sorts of crap in it (and those of you who don't wash your hands after the bathroom, you literally put crap in your mouth when you touch something then stick it in your mouth, or chew on your nails, etc).

Point is, there is a TON of bacteria. Then you don't brush or floss and you get a cavity. The thing about bacteria, is it is really small. We have methods to get rid of the bacteria, but they are not fool proof. They work most of the time. Sometimes, before you even go to the dentist, the bacteria is already in the nerve. It may not hurt, but it doesn't mean it isn't infected. So, you go to the dentist, everything feels ok. The dentist tells you that you need a filling, you get it done. Unfortunately, the bacteria had already made it to the nerve, and you need a root canal.

That sucks.

Next, every filling you get done is a surgery. It's not cool surgery that you get flowers and dinner from your neighbors, but it is surgery. Sometimes you have surgery on your tooth and the tooth just gives up, the nerve dies, you have pain and you need a rct.

Those aren't the dentist's fault. It's called **** happens and unfortunately it happened to you.

Everyone could put dentist's out of business right now if you would eat right, drink water, and brush and floss. But we don't (me included), we get cavities and I still have a job.

NOW, (if you made it this far), on to your situation.

A couple of things could have happened:

1 - the decay was close to the nerve, the dentist tried to do you a solid and fill it when he should have done the root canal from day one. Maybe the dentist did an absolutely amazing job on your filling and it's a miracle it lasted this long before the root canal. I don't do people "solids" like this, because then when I do a great job and it doesn't work, somehow it's my fault. I'd have to see the X-ray to know if this was a possibility.

2 - the decay seemed small, the dentist cleaned the decay out, but unfortunately the bacteria was already deep enough into the tooth that a root canal needed to happen.

3 - your dentist is a hack, ****ed you up, and now is pawning you off on a specialist. That could happen, but it happens A LOT less than you think. Odds are, 99 times out of 100, it was one of the first two options.

The root canal isn't a bad procedure, it will probably be expensive, you will need a crown and buildup afterwards. Your other option could be pulling the tooth.
Click to expand...

green said:
Also, this is why it's so important to trust your Doctor. They are supposed to know what's best but in most cases there are multiple ways to treat every condition, and each may be effective. You have to trust them because someone may have the same problem but different treatment.

It's ok to shop around. It's ok to ask questions. Ask if your decay was big. Have him show you the X-ray. Ask if it could have been prevented. If you don't like their response, find another Dr.

If you don't trust your Dr then you won't be happy with the outcome no matter how good/bad they are.
Click to expand...

green said:
And you usually get what you pay for. I'd recommend a Dr that owns his office, is maybe a little more than average expense, and you are comfortable with.
Click to expand...

Wow, what a great treatise regarding "Obamacare". Well done Green. I am impressed... seriously.
 
I have a pretty similar situation going on right now. Going on four years of a sore tooth. And now I'm dealing with tmj issues after the second replacement filling.

Effing sucks. Good luck.
 
Dr. Jones said:
I would recommend to stop posting immediately and get to a new dentist.
Then take time off from the internet while you mend and age gracefully.
Click to expand...

Have a heart. Much better he gets a 10 inch diamond drill bit and roots out this problem once and for all.
 
green said:
Go to the specialist, you probably need a root canal.

Some background here:

Your mouth is disgusting (not just you, but everyone's). We fill it with food, we put all sorts of crap in it (and those of you who don't wash your hands after the bathroom, you literally put crap in your mouth when you touch something then stick it in your mouth, or chew on your nails, etc).

Point is, there is a TON of bacteria. Then you don't brush or floss and you get a cavity. The thing about bacteria, is it is really small. We have methods to get rid of the bacteria, but they are not fool proof. They work most of the time. Sometimes, before you even go to the dentist, the bacteria is already in the nerve. It may not hurt, but it doesn't mean it isn't infected. So, you go to the dentist, everything feels ok. The dentist tells you that you need a filling, you get it done. Unfortunately, the bacteria had already made it to the nerve, and you need a root canal.

That sucks.

Next, every filling you get done is a surgery. It's not cool surgery that you get flowers and dinner from your neighbors, but it is surgery. Sometimes you have surgery on your tooth and the tooth just gives up, the nerve dies, you have pain and you need a rct.

Those aren't the dentist's fault. It's called **** happens and unfortunately it happened to you.

Everyone could put dentist's out of business right now if you would eat right, drink water, and brush and floss. But we don't (me included), we get cavities and I still have a job.

NOW, (if you made it this far), on to your situation.

A couple of things could have happened:

1 - the decay was close to the nerve, the dentist tried to do you a solid and fill it when he should have done the root canal from day one. Maybe the dentist did an absolutely amazing job on your filling and it's a miracle it lasted this long before the root canal. I don't do people "solids" like this, because then when I do a great job and it doesn't work, somehow it's my fault. I'd have to see the X-ray to know if this was a possibility.

2 - the decay seemed small, the dentist cleaned the decay out, but unfortunately the bacteria was already deep enough into the tooth that a root canal needed to happen.

3 - your dentist is a hack, ****ed you up, and now is pawning you off on a specialist. That could happen, but it happens A LOT less than you think. Odds are, 99 times out of 100, it was one of the first two options.

The root canal isn't a bad procedure, it will probably be expensive, you will need a crown and buildup afterwards. Your other option could be pulling the tooth.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

However, I don't know if this changes things much. But this tooth is the one that already had a root canal performed about 12 years ago. The infection it appears is above the tooth (since it's the upper moler). It's been senitive for about 2 years and downright painful for the past 12 months.
 
Yes, it does. That X-ray changes everything. Back in the day, we believed that that tooth had three canals and every once in a blue moon, 4 canals. When I went through school we started to realize that tooth has 4 canals most of the time and three only once in a blue moon.

It looks like you've only had three canals filled. I'd bet it's a missed canal that's had bacteria forever that's finally decided to give you trouble. Credit to the doc who did the crown to have it last as long as it did.

There's a chance of fracture as well and it's tough to see a fracture in an X-ray like this, but the shadowing at the apex (tip) of that root points to a missed canal.

There are very few general dentists that can fix it because it's not smart $$$ wise to buy the equipment to do the job. Endodontists fix this every day.
 
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