Dull pain and bad cold sensitivitiy in temporary filling

[thinkyt]

Hello all,

Firstly, thank you for this forum and this site: it's been such a help to me over the years.

5 days ago I went to the dentist about a filling which has been causing me pressure nuisance for a while and he told me that the filling had 'leaked' at the seal. So, he took out the filling and discovered a tiny bit more decay which he cleared out. The cavity was deep, he said, quite near the nerve, which may need a root canal or may not (there's still a bit of room between the root and the tooth).

He mentioned then that it would be sensible to put in a sedative 'temporary filling' (one with that clove oil taste in it...eugenol I think?) for 2 weeks to see if it calms down. If it does, they could put in a more permanent filling. It's been 5 days now and I have quite bad sensitivity to cold on that tooth, which causes then my jaw to be painful for a while afterwards, and it has a near constant 'ache' or dull pain (which I note also when I bend over or have my head on one side to direct the blood to that tooth).
I'm aware that I do have a history of bruxism, so suspect that any dental work may cause issues for me more than other people. I was wondering if I should just bite the bullet, call the dentist and see if I need a root canal, or if I should leave it a bit longer? I can use the tooth for normal chewing on normal temperatures, it's just cold feels really sharp pain, but then vanishes.

So, in a nutshell: a man with a history of bruxism has had a temporary filling for 5 days now on a 70/30 root canal tooth, and it's VERY sensitive to cold atm, and has a frequent dull ache. Should I contact dentist or give it more time?

 

[Deck2015]

Dentist advised to wait two weeks to see if tooth settles, yeah?

How much is the pain affecting your activity level currently? Is it waking you from sleep? Is it more dull in nature but sharp only when eating cold or hot foods? Having any throbbing pain from that tooth? You mentioned you brux; are you wearing a night guard of any sort at night?

Personally, because my teeth are SO sensitive to any work, I'd give it at least the recommended two weeks before I jumped into a RCT - RCT is a very safe, painless procedure in the hands of the right provider. But it's also very final for your tooth. Of course if you develop infection/abscess/decay reaching the nerve or a large crack or have irreversible pulpitis you should have RCT if you want to do everything to save your tooth.

When in doubt, call your Dentist and ask his/her advice. His advice will likely be based on severity of sensitivity, duration, etc. He may want to check to see if the temp filling needs any adjusting, but my guess would be not.

Don't panic until you have a reason to panic - this pain *could* resolve on it's own. Good luck.