Angry and having awful thoughts again!

[Stupiddentalfear]

Well things are terrible. Once again I have lost my faith in dentists, have terrible dental anxiety and my depression is eating away at me.

Basically at the beginning of this year I was referred by my dentist to a nhs dental clinic to have my dodgy tooth out by sedation. A lady there examined it and came to a similar conclusion as my dentist in that she wasn't sure that it could be crowned. So she refers me to an endodontist saying that 'if he said no then I would be referred back to her to have the tooth out'. I am elated when the endodontist says that he can complete the work despite my tooth having a 60% prognosis of surviving 10 years. The endodontist completes three sessions to remove the infected pulp and places a core in my tooth. Expecting him to then crown it, I am told that he is referring me back to my original dentist because he doesn't do that part of the work. Fast forward to Thursday this week. Two dental students complete a filling on the remainder of the tooth. I am told not to bite down hard on the tooth. In shock I ask them if they will crown it and I am told that they don't crown teeth and that 'my dentist' would have to do this if she decides to.

I am 99% sure that my dentist will still not be able to crown this tooth. I am soooooooooooooo angry! I have gone 10 months in the belief that I have been given a second chance with this tooth to be back at the same place I was 10 months ago. I am also feeling somewhat suicidal again because I will feel ugly if it has to come out and if it stays I am just going to continue worrying about it. I am still angry also in that I did this to myself by avoiding the dentist for 19 years. I sooooo didn't realise the consequences!!

Furthermore, I still have dental phobia and once again I don't trust dentists.

I plan to try and keep hold of the tooth by avoiding chewing anything on that side of my mouth and in the meantime have a conversation with my dentist.

I don't know what else to do. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Torrentula81]

"am 99% sure that my dentist will still not be able to crown this tooth" I think you need to spend time typing different phrases into google to understand you're situation. I gathered 3 main ideas doing 10 minutes of you're research.

1) pretty much any general dentist (main, non specialized dentist) should do crowns.
2) not all root canal teeth need crowns.
3) endodontist don't do crowns. They did extra schooling to specialize.

So the possible current situation is likely either

1) main dentist isn't skilled enough do the crown. Hard to believe.
2) the tooth doesn't need one. possible.
3) It does need one but the dentist wanted a specialist to do the root canal. Most likely.

 

[Stupiddentalfear]

Hi there,

Thanks for your input. I hope you are right. However I was told originally that there possibly wasn't enough tooth left to crown.

Keeping everything crossed =/

 

[Spike 1969]

Hi there

I agree with Torrentula81 that a crown is a relatively straightforward procedure for a dentist to perform. Whether a crown is needed or not (from a discussion with Mike, my excellent dentist) depends upon a number of factors such as the size and type of tooth (Molars and premolars are more likely to require one due to the forces exerted on them), the condition of the tooth (I'd, teeth with large fillings often need crowning to stop them breaking further down the line) and other factors taken into account by a dentist.

From what you have said, the Endo put in a "Core" - do you mean a Titanium post?

Having recently had an RCT on a premolar that was botched by a previous dentist, the tooth had had so much material removed that we decided to do a post and crown as the tooth would have otherwise been unable to last long, my understanding is that if a post is fitted there is normally a crown to go with it.

If I were you, I would go and ask your dentist exactly what he intends to do to restore the tooth and ensure its viability, if you aren't satisfied with the explanation I would be looking at getting a second opinion.

Hope you get on ok, please feel free to update us.

Kind Regards

 

[littlething]

Hi there,

Could it be that there needs to be something else done so they crown it? I have a tooth that I could opt to save with a root canal, but my dentist said that it wouldn't have enough tooth structure for a crown, so I would have had to have either crown lengthening or orthodontic extrusion to pull the tooth down in order to crown it. (I ended up opting to have the tooth out and closing the gap with orthodontics instead, since my teeth are so crowded that this makes more sense for my situation). Maybe your dentist is thinking something along those lines?

 

[Stupiddentalfear]

I'm beginning to think that they can't do anything else with it and that they have done this much because I practically begged them. This is my worst nightmare. I wouldn't go to the dentists because I feared extraction. I have had the fear from childhood. They wanted to extract some of my bottom teeth due to overcrowding for braces and then my wisdom teeth. Every time my parents go they have teeth removed. My brother wouldn't go when he chipped a front tooth and in the end it fell out. In fact he still won't go. Four generations of dental phobia in the family. I still can't face letting this tooth go. I had lovely teeth before pregnancy which was the last straw for tooth which then abcessed. I am so stupid. My mental health is terrible. If it goes I know the temptation to do something to myself will be too great.