Advice needed about temp crown pain

[NotAloneISee]

One week ago on a Monday, I had a crown prep done. The tooth required a filling and rebuild. The dentist did say if I remember correctly, that the filling came close to the root nerve. No root canal was done or needed.

I don't chew on that side and haven't since the tooth chipped off two and a half years ago. Yes, it took me awhile to get it fixed but not all my "fault."

Anyhow, it has been sensitive to cold, which I knew would happen. Sometimes the ache lasts for fifteen minutes to an hour at most. It doesn't happen often though. The first few days were good. Thursday night I felt the ache for awhile and so I took an Ibuprofin. It went away within an hour after (which may have nothing to do with the med. lol) The same thing happened Saturday. During those days, no aches beside the ones mentioned just some sensitivity. No sensitivity to hot drinks, and I drink alot of coffee.

Last night (Sunday), I woke up with a throbbing ache. It was not real bad, and not like the tooth ache that I had a year ago on a tooth that needs a root canal treatment. But it did throb. I got up, flossed around it, took two Ibuprofins and did fall asleep. I woke up an hour later, and the pain was gone.

Today as I type this, seven hours later, I have had no more pain.

The question is: Is this a normal ache that could have been caused by inflammation or food? If the tooth required a RCT, would it not have started aching again?

I can bite down on it with no pain, but as I said, i don't chew at all on that side. I was told to avoid hard and chewy things, so rather than worry what could happen, I figure I can wait until the perm crown goes on.

I think if this tooth needs a RCT being that it is the back tooth, then I will consider having it pulled. I don't know that I could endure a RCT.​

 

[NotAloneISee]

So the question is:

Is my pain normal for a temp crown?

Never had it done before, or at least the one with the RC was 30 years ago.

 

[bcjch]

The short answer is "yes". Your jaw won't necessarily react in the same way to each specific tooth on which a procedure is performed. Sometimes it will be more sore. It is my non-expert theory that proximity to the tooth root can make a difference in the soreness, because the dental tools have to get close - even if they don't penetrate completely to the root. Furthermore, I believe that given two teeth that need similar work, the one in worse shape will hurt more during recovery. Sometimes, there's no way to tell the severity of things until the dentist starts drilling.

And since they didn't penetrate that far, you won't need a root canal unless years down the road, the tooth needs more work. Based on what you've been told, you don't have to worry about crossing that bridge yet.

 

[Angeldove]

I have 2 "old" root canals/crowns that were done 12+ years ago - never had any pain or biting issues with those two.

Last summer, I had #13 worked on - root canal, temp crown that was on for about 4 months because of gum treatments I was getting, and final crown put on. My roots are very close to another molar that needs a RCT and crown, but wasn't as bad as #13, so it's on the wait list. I think that due to the closeness of the roots - although my dentist never said anything, I'm basing this on what I've seen in my x-rays - it has/had pain.

It was way worse with the temp crown - took a long time to calm down and had intense pain when I press on the temp crown in certain ways. The pain is coming from the side that is nearest my tongue (not my cheek side).

Once I had my permanent crown put on, I did notice a longer healing time needed (about 2 months) compared to my 2 other root canal treatments. It was frustrating for me to deal with this healing time because I had had ZERO issues with my other ones. By issues I mean swollen gums, bite was pretty wierd/off, and some pain. During this time, my dentist reassured me that I just needed to give it time to heal - it's a BIG molar tooth (last one on my LL side), near a big nerve, and close to another tooth.

I have to say that adjusting the bite was really important to get the pain to go away. And I was annoying about having the dentist adjust the bite - I wasn't happy and wasn't going to leave until it was perfect. The dentist realized the wisdom tooth that sits on this #13 is actually crooked (I'm thinking about getting my 2 wisdom teeth taken out over the summer), so we agreed that she would drill off a bit of my wisdom tooth to make the bite perfect (I don't need it, so I'd rather damage that wisdom tooth than my $$$$ crown). Adjusting the bite on my final crown really helped to speed up the healing process for me.

I have a few more RCT's coming my way - my goal is to finish up my initial treatment plan by the end of 2017 - so I'm hoping the others will go smoothly.

As for RCT's, I've had 3 done, I understand the process, and I've had really good dentists doing the treatment, so it doesn't bother me. Worse part: the needle to numb me up - only when they are just starting to put the needle in. I told the dentist about how another dentist hit my nerves BADLY for a deep cleaning procedure and asked if at all possible to not do that - I have a high pain tolerance but that makes me see flashes of white light. He understood and did really well to avoid the nerves as much as possible and then he completely numbed me up. I think that's super important: do not let them start working on you until your pain management is completely taken care of. I loved my last dentist - he would not leave my side the whole time I was numbing up and he was more patient with the time it took me to numb up then I was . If I wasn't numb, he had no issue giving me more of the injection and really letting it set in. He was also super gentle when handling my face - I have issues with people (especially strangers) touching my face, which causes me to jerk if I'm startled. He was so good at what he did that I honestly was ready to fall asleep in the chair (this is after my heart was racing from the stupid needles) and I hope that he can do my other RCT's. I do pay more than usual for where I go, but I enjoy most of the dentists there and they have doctors for all the treatments I could ever need in one location. If you need need a root canal, ask around to see which dentist is the best.

 

[NotAloneISee]

Thanks for the helpful responses.

No pain since Sunday night. Some sensitivity but no pain.