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Root Canal - how long before it might settle?

M

maryc

Junior member
Joined
May 2, 2008
Messages
18
Back from holiday with the rogue tooth still misbehaving....

Saw my own dentist who did tests and x rays and decided to do a root canal and found a bad fracture in the process which she said was the cause of the pain and trouble I'd been having but said there was a chance of saving the tooth. Ended up back there the next day due to the pain, and am now on antibiotics and strong painkillers. I've now to give it a few weeks to see if it settles down. The tooth is 'wobbly' as well. She also pared it down to take it out of my bite.

It's the bottom left molar, the only one I've got there now since a dressing filling, 2 root canals. many antibiotics and a lot of misery failed to save its next door neighbour earlier this year and it was eventually extracted.

I wonder if anyone can help me with some questions.

Do root canaled teeth ever really 'settle down' in the few weeks waiting time?
Are there some people (or some people's teeth!) just not suited to root canals?
Can a 'wobbly' tooth recover its strength?

A wee bit of hope would be great. I so hate going to the dentist, have such a struggle with it all and really need some help.

Thanks in advance.

MC

PS Just to say that the actual process of getting the root canal was totally painless - in case anyone is due to get one and reads this and freaks out! I was totally numbed and it was no worse than a filling - just took longer.
 
Sounds like bad news on this one to me, sorry. As for your questions

1) I've never seen one that settled after a "few weeks", usually they're fine in a few days.
2) Probably, I've seen technically almost perfect root canalled teeth fail, I've seen some pretty ropey ones that work fine. There's a fair amount of host response variation at work here I think.
3) Occasionally. Depends what's making the tooth "wobbly"
 
Thanks to you both for responding to me.

Gordon, I appreciate your honesty. I guess I can only hope that the antibiotics are taking a while to work.

Annie, thanks very much for your comments. I don't smoke and am off most food and all drink since this happened! Great for the diet but not for much else. I am trying very hard to eat when I can but it's not easy when you feel sick - the antibiotics really mess up my digestion so life is not so good just now. I try to be positive (there are a great deal many folk in the world much worse off than me) but this dental carry on really takes over your whole life, eh?

MC
 
Thanks for that, Annie, I'll certainly give it a try!
 
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