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Deep cavity filling -- still have pain?

C

crysania

Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2018
Messages
57
Hi folks. Maybe someone can tell me if this is normal or if something else is wrong?

I hadn't been to the dentist in ages (13 years) and went back due to pain. Among other issues, they found a deep cavity in one of my upper molars. There was some debate over whether or not a filling would work and I was sent to an endodontist to have him look at it. He though a filling had a chance of working and wanted us to go that route first before thinking about a root canal or extraction.

On Tuesday (5/15) I had the cavity filled. The procedure itself was ok, mostly painless. But when he put the filling in (I think), there was a bit of a sharp pain. I'm not sure if that was his hitting the nerve or what I was feeling, but I definitely had some pain at that moment despite everything assuring me there would be no pain at all.

It's now two days later and I'm still getting toothache pain from there. Is it possible that it's just the nerve is irritated and I can expect to feel some pain for a little while? Or is it possible that the filling just wasn't the right choice and the tooth was worse off than the endodontist thought? The pain is not ongoing and does sometimes go away (though I'm taking Ibuprofen to combat it, so that may help chase it away), but it definitely still hurts at times.

I just don't know what's normal here. I've never had a filling before and since this one was a deep one, I wonder if this is just normal or if it's not. Any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm very tired of hurting. My mouth has been hurting since the end of March and I'm just getting so over it all!
 
From personal, I would suggest the whole "Take a Tylenol/Advil and wait a few days" approach. I've had a few teeth (root canal included) that I had pain in after still. Depending how deep they really went, they basically shreded everything inside. If you didn't have pain, that would be more worrying.

If you still have pain after a week or two (Yes I know that is going to driver you insane in the meantime), then reach out to the dentist and just let him know you have the pain that isn't going away. Make sure to note how it responds to eating, flosing, and brushing because those help diagnose.
 
Thank you for your response! This makes me feel a little bit better. I did actually call to talk to them yesterday and they got me in to see the dentist his morning and he was REALLY not helpful at all. Basically he said it's not normal and I could see if it goes away in a little while or meet with someone about a root canal (or in my case, extraction as I'm NOT going the root canal route with this tooth).

The pain does feel a bit better today but I've been really hitting it hard with Ibuprofen and Tylenol. So we'll see how this goes. But it might end up needing an extraction at the end of it all.
 
Anytime I've had pain after a filling I usually use some Sensodyne toothpaste for a week and have had it calm things down in some cases. Certainly worth a shot. Dental pain is no fun. Best wishes in feeling better!
 
Thank you! I'm going to try some Sensodyne. So far it's not really calming down. It's tolerable with Ibuprofen but I'm tired of taking so much and afraid it's going to rip up my stomach if I keep taking it at such a level.

I'm not really sure how much time I should give this. I'm starting to think that maybe it's time to just get the tooth taken out. Of course, I have a vacation planned in a month so if I wait couple weeks to see how this settles, then I'm cutting it too close to the vacation to get teeth extracted. So either I get the tooth (and another wisdom tooth that needs to come out) extracted in the next couple weeks or I have to wait until I get home in July to do it. Not a great place to be at!
 
An update!

I tried the Sensodyne. No go. I mean, it felt marginally better but that may have been due to the amount of Ibuprofen I was taking. I called back over to my dentist last Monday and told them I just wanted to get the tooth out at this point. I was so tired of being in pain. They couldn't get me in until June 20 (!!!), which was (a) too far away and (b) 2 days before a scheduled vacation. So I got in with another place. I had the bad tooth out along with the wisdom tooth on the other side, which also needed to go.

SO now I'm home recovering. The wisdom tooth was easy. I feel almost no pain over there and it almost feels like they didn't do anything (they did!). The one on the right (2nd molar) hurts a bit and the bleeding is not stopping like I'd like it too. Hopefully it will stop sometime soon.

I am really really over this dental thing at this point and super regretting not just going ever year to get my teeth cleaned. Boy have I learned a lesson.
 
I called back over to my dentist last Monday and told them I just wanted to get the tooth out at this point. I was so tired of being in pain. They couldn't get me in until June 20 (!!!), which was (a) too far away and (b) 2 days before a scheduled vacation.

I am shocked to read this. If you call a dentist while being in pain, it's an emergency and they either have to take you at the same day or at least send you to a practice that can take care of it. Is there any country where this works differently? :confused:
 
I am shocked to read this. If you call a dentist while being in pain, it's an emergency and they either have to take you at the same day or at least send you to a practice that can take care of it. Is there any country where this works differently? :confused:

Apparently Aspen Dental in the USA doesn't work that way. I found it pretty weird too. I guess the pain wasn't "bad enough" or something? They basically told me to wait it out.

I got in with a different oral surgeon though and got the teeth out on Tuesday! Now it's the healing process. I'm still in some pain after the extraction but hopefully that will fade in the next couple days.
 
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