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Still sensitive to cold (pain) after root canal.

B

Blinx

Junior member
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Messages
4
Hi,

Last week I had a root canal treatment on tooth number 5. Unfortunately immediately after that I had intense pain when chewing on it. I got retreated today, and the chewing pain is much improved, but the tooth still hurts when something cold touches it :( The doc said the tooth is infected. Going in for another treatment on Wednesday.

Anyone else experience this? I am rather worried I might lose this tooth.
 
As usual on here, there are more questions than answers, sorry :)

Is the root canal finished? In other words has the root canal been definitely filled or are you left with a dressing in the canals? Sounds like it isn't from what you've already said but just checking.

If it isn't finished then there may still be a few nerve fibres still in there and firing away, so you might get the odd twinge with any stimuli. The daft thing about the nerves in teeth is that they can only send pain messages to the brain, so even if it's something cold or sweet that sets them off, you just get a "pain" signal :)
 
Thanks for the very fast response Gordon. It's a temporary filling or dressing as you say.

I hope the dentist can get to the bottom of this (literally) on the next app.

The thing is it's just a regular dentist, he seems capable, but lacks equipment like microscopes and whatnot other specialists like endodontists seem to have, unfortunately, those are not covered by my insurance :/
 
You should be honoured, my first post on here for ages. I started a new job, moved to a new house and got a new puppy, all of which rather did for my free time of an evening.

Anyway, the overwhelming majority of root treatments are done without anything like the levels of equipment you've heard about, and again, the overwhelming majority of them are successful.

I've had 1 root canal fail in the last 12 months and although I use magnification, I don't have a microscope, even that 1 was a bit of "herodentistry" I let the patient talk me into :)
 
Hey Gordon, sorry to butt in here, but you have become a mythical being to us new members. Kept reading your replies on so many old threads.....and now you are back. :jump: GREAT NEWS !!
 
I too have read many of your replies from times gone by and I am delighted to see you back. :jump:

Happy days again.
 
The daft thing about the nerves in teeth is that they can only send pain messages to the brain, so even if it's something cold or sweet that sets them off, you just get a "pain" signal :)

I don't think I've ever actually heard that explained properly before - thanks!

(And yes, great to have you back! ;D)
 
I had a root canal that got infected and I was given antibiotics, maybe your dentist should also give you some as well as treat it.
 
There are no symptoms which indicate an infection, so antibiotics wouldn't be indicated.
 
I went in this morning with no biting or chewing pain but still with sensitivity to cold...I thought things were finally improving but this time I was in total agony, he drills and then puts in these pins, the first pin goes in but then it feels like it is blocked, there is no pain there, sometimes with some fiddling he gets a pin really deep down there and I could jump off the bench with pain :(

This is the third time he went in there, I don't know what to do. He can't give any prognosis :(
 
Time to ask for a referral to a specialist endodontist or a dentist with an interest in endo then.
 
Why is he not numbing you properly? The endodontist will likely give you a much more comfortable experience.
Magnification must help the quality a lot when General dentists do root canals. Mine uses magnification but teeth with tricky roots or retreats, he lets an endo tackle usually.
 
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