Had tooth drilled and temp. crown put in. Very sore on day 2. Normal?

[shinyonne]

Hi,

I broke a tooth a few months ago and finally got up the nerve to go to a new dentist and have it fixed. It had several old fillings, with decay underneath so there wasn't much tooth to save. Didn't need a root canal thankfully, but I needed a lot of freezing and the drilling took awhile, then I had to get a cast taken for the crown and a temporary crown put in. It was about 2 hrs in the chair.

I'm still really sore 24 hrs later. My jaw is stiff and sore, and my temporary tooth is sore. Sometimes I get some shooting pain when I chew or press on the temp tooth with the top teeth. Is this normal or is there something wrong? Is it my gums (they do feel kind of raw). At what point should I be concerned if it doesn't improve. My next appt is in 2 weeks to have the permanent crown put in.

 

[kitkat]

It is normal to experience a lot of inflammation right after something like that. I would give it a few days at least and if it does not get better or gets worse, I would give the office a follow up call at that point. It may help to take an anti inflammatory like ibuprofen to help with pain relief.

 

[Paige2018]

Also, if there is pain when biting, if it hurts more when you bite down then when you release your bite could be off. This is a super easy fix and I would contact the dentist as soon as possible because them adjusting your bite will make a huge difference. If when you bite it hurts more when you release then that could be a sign of a fracture in your tooth, which would also need to be looked at sooner rather than later. Hope this helps and hope you have a restful recovery. .

 

[shinyonne]

It’s when I bite down rather then let off, so hopefully it’s just my bite rather than a fracture. I’ll leave it for a few days to see what happens. Thanks for the advice!

Also, if there is pain when biting, if it hurts more when you bite down then when you release your bite could be off. This is a super easy fix and I would contact the dentist as soon as possible because them adjusting your bite will make a huge difference. If when you bite it hurts more when you release then that could be a sign of a fracture in your tooth, which would also need to be looked at sooner rather than later. Hope this helps and hope you have a restful recovery. .

 

[shinyonne]

Well it’s been not quite a week since I had this tooth drilled and temp crown put on. It was a bit sensitive but in the last day it’s become very sore. I woke up last night with throbbing pain radiating from tooth to the corner of my jaw and through a few of the front teeth near this molar as well. It went away but is now back again. Someone please tell me it might just be a poor fit of my temp crown impinging on my gums. I really don’t want to have a root canal. I’ve had one and it was a traumatic experience. The tooth did not hurt at all before this dentist drilled it. And he tested it with ice and said it was a healthy tooth (ie not dying.) it was only after the procedure that I’ve begun to feel pain. I have such and incredibly busy week at work this week and then I’m supposed to go away on vacation for 2 weeks. I really can’t deal with the thought of a root canal and I don’t even have time to get an earlier/extra appointment. I guess I will have to call them on Monday (my appointment for the permanent crown is on Friday afternoon, just before we fly out on vacation.) I’m just beside myself at the thought of all this. I’m nursing some other unrelated injuries now too. My one hope is that the temp crown seems a bit crooked, it juts out a bit beyond the other surrounding teeth (toward the tongue side of my mouth, not the lip side) and seems to be tilted at a slight angle. So maybe it is just pressing into the gums? Would that pain also radiate throughout my jaw though? I think I need some reassurance that things will be ok. I’m so upset now.

 

[Gordon]

Can't really give you any meaningful advice without seeing you, from your symptoms it could be that the temp crown is a bit off or the nerve could be busy dying from the trauma of the crown prep and will be heading for an RCT. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst is the best I can suggest, sorry.

 

[shinyonne]

Thank you. Just so I am prepared: How will the dentist determine which situation is most likely? An x-ray? Or does he have to poke around at it? I took some Advil last night and it was quite effective. I woke up today with no pain, though I doubt that is definitive proof of anything. I recall Advil was really effective at killing the pain when I had a tooth that required a root canal. (But in that case the pain was constant, rather than intermittent.)

 

[Gordon]

There would be a range of investigations X-rays are unlikely to show anything useful if the nerve is still in the process of dying off.