S
sumofliege
Junior member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2024
- Messages
- 3
- Location
- Germany
Hi,
I am looking for advice, because I feel like I have a rather mysterious case of biting pain that no dentist could find the reason for. I am also fearing a relapse of my dental phobia, since I was not completely numb the last time I've got a filling, now I have an RCT scheduled... but first a quick run down of my case:
Roughly one year ago, I decided to overcome my fear of dentists (didn't go for 10 years), and surprise, surprise: 4 teeth had to be filled. It was an emotional roller coaster, but I eventually had them all filled over the course of about 2 months (had to switch dentist in between because she didn't like I was being anxious). All fillings were very "shallow" according to my dentist. I was becoming way less anxious, too.
A couple of weeks later, when the tenderness cleared up, I bit on some sort of kernel in a bread roll and had almost flew out of the chair. It felt as if someone shot me in the face! A very sharp pain, like a lightning bolt. The pain subsided after a minute, but from then on, I couldn't bite anymore without experiencing the same pain.
The dentist thought that the bonding failed and redid my filling. The pain however, still persisted. After waiting for 2-3 months without any improvement, I went to two different dentists (both said the tooth looks fine), and one of them eventually redid the filling a third time, this time with a rubber dam.
Unfortunately, the pain on bite persisted — though I started to form a habit of chewing on the other side which helped me avoiding that pain normally. The dentist said she now rules out a loose filling and assumed a traumatized nerve instead. She suggested to wait 2-3 months. I did. And nothing did improve. I still had no pain whatsoever when I didn't use this particular molar — and I was becoming quite good at avoiding it. Because of this, and because the dentist said she has no idea what is wrong after x-raying it again (she only said she doesn't want to do a RCT on a healthy tooth), I decided to forget about dentistry stuff and enjoy my life again (I have been to > 14 appointments at this point).
Fast forward to today, around 6 months later, I decided to once again go to another dentist, this time to an endodontist, with a DVT/3D X-Ray and try that. This dentist said my story sounds like the tooth probably needs an RCT (before doing any tests) and then when she did the cold test — my tooth reacted quite intensly, but it didn't last long — she concluded that this tooth is "definitely suspicious" and recommended the RCT procedure, which is supposed to be in 3 weeks. She also said she can see an inflammation on the 3D-scan at the root-end (which I found curious, because I didn't have any pain without "using" this tooth).
I don't know if this is the right move. I am 34, still quite young, and my other dentist said she doesn't see the reason to do a RCT. Now the endodontist says she definitely wants to do it, because the tooth does NOT seem healthy.
I am still hesitant, because the pain feels like it's not coming from the tooth itself, but rather from the filling. If I push my nail on the tooth where I assume the filling is located, it produces this sharp kind of pain. If I press on the whole tooth with my thumb, it does not hurt. It's a very specific place, where it hurts, and I wonder if this might be a crack in the tooth (...maybe it's not even related to the filling?) and if the RCT can help with that or will make it even worse? Apart from my anxiety, it's also quite expensive. Any advice?
I am looking for advice, because I feel like I have a rather mysterious case of biting pain that no dentist could find the reason for. I am also fearing a relapse of my dental phobia, since I was not completely numb the last time I've got a filling, now I have an RCT scheduled... but first a quick run down of my case:
Roughly one year ago, I decided to overcome my fear of dentists (didn't go for 10 years), and surprise, surprise: 4 teeth had to be filled. It was an emotional roller coaster, but I eventually had them all filled over the course of about 2 months (had to switch dentist in between because she didn't like I was being anxious). All fillings were very "shallow" according to my dentist. I was becoming way less anxious, too.
A couple of weeks later, when the tenderness cleared up, I bit on some sort of kernel in a bread roll and had almost flew out of the chair. It felt as if someone shot me in the face! A very sharp pain, like a lightning bolt. The pain subsided after a minute, but from then on, I couldn't bite anymore without experiencing the same pain.
The dentist thought that the bonding failed and redid my filling. The pain however, still persisted. After waiting for 2-3 months without any improvement, I went to two different dentists (both said the tooth looks fine), and one of them eventually redid the filling a third time, this time with a rubber dam.
Unfortunately, the pain on bite persisted — though I started to form a habit of chewing on the other side which helped me avoiding that pain normally. The dentist said she now rules out a loose filling and assumed a traumatized nerve instead. She suggested to wait 2-3 months. I did. And nothing did improve. I still had no pain whatsoever when I didn't use this particular molar — and I was becoming quite good at avoiding it. Because of this, and because the dentist said she has no idea what is wrong after x-raying it again (she only said she doesn't want to do a RCT on a healthy tooth), I decided to forget about dentistry stuff and enjoy my life again (I have been to > 14 appointments at this point).
Fast forward to today, around 6 months later, I decided to once again go to another dentist, this time to an endodontist, with a DVT/3D X-Ray and try that. This dentist said my story sounds like the tooth probably needs an RCT (before doing any tests) and then when she did the cold test — my tooth reacted quite intensly, but it didn't last long — she concluded that this tooth is "definitely suspicious" and recommended the RCT procedure, which is supposed to be in 3 weeks. She also said she can see an inflammation on the 3D-scan at the root-end (which I found curious, because I didn't have any pain without "using" this tooth).
I don't know if this is the right move. I am 34, still quite young, and my other dentist said she doesn't see the reason to do a RCT. Now the endodontist says she definitely wants to do it, because the tooth does NOT seem healthy.
I am still hesitant, because the pain feels like it's not coming from the tooth itself, but rather from the filling. If I push my nail on the tooth where I assume the filling is located, it produces this sharp kind of pain. If I press on the whole tooth with my thumb, it does not hurt. It's a very specific place, where it hurts, and I wonder if this might be a crack in the tooth (...maybe it's not even related to the filling?) and if the RCT can help with that or will make it even worse? Apart from my anxiety, it's also quite expensive. Any advice?
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much appreciated!
