• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

Help my saga continues (pain in pulp-capped tooth)

G

Guest

Former Member
Hello everyone, I'm so glad to have found this board.

I'm having such ongoing dental problems and loads of fear associated with them.

Last week I had to have a root canal on a lower molar. I was petrified, as I have had continues problems getting numb, especially on lower teeth. Luckily, the endodontist managed to get me numb, and the nitrous that he gave me REALLY helped SO MUCH.

Just when I thought I was ok I started getting major pain on the opposite side of my mouth on my upper molars. So, back to the dentist I went today, but he saw nothing on the xray except for that there was a bit of a tiny dark area by one tooth. However, he checked my past records and the "dark" area has been there since 1997!!! Also, the dark area tooth is not the one that is really bugging me.

The one that is bugging me had a pulp cap done on it 13 years ago. This tooth seems to always act up if I have any kind of work done.

I'm so confused as to what to do now. The dentist said that if it gets worse to go back to the endodontist. Why would I be having trouble if there is no decay evident in the xray??????

I'm so confused...
 
Re: Help my saga continues (pain in pulp-capped to

Good Morning luba,

That certainly is an unusual "saga" that you ask about. If you had a "pulp cap" done on a tooth 13 years ago, and it hasn't bothered you, I think we can safely assume that the "pulp cap" was successful. So why does it only bother you when you have dental treatment done? That seems to be the question.

Of, course, without examing you or without xrays, its very difficult offer you a precise diagnosis.

The first thought that comes to mind is that when you had the root canal done on the other side, the endodontist probably adjusted your bite such that you can no longer hit the root canal tooth. This possibly could have altered your bite enough to irritate the "pulp cap" tooth. The first thing I would do is check to be sure that you are not hitting the "pulp cap" tooth too hard.

It could also just be coincidential that the "pulp cap" has decided to act up at the same time the root canal was done on the other side.

The bottom line is: if you have severe pain (regardless of the cause) the nerve is probably irreversibly damaged and a root canal or extraction will be necessary.

I hope I've helped. Keep us informed of the outcome....Glenn
 
Re: Help my saga continues (pain in pulp-capped to

Thanks Glen,

I forgot to add one more bit of info: I grind my teeth at night - BADLY. That's what they asked me about yesterday at the dentist. They wanted to know if I'd had a lot of stress, and whether or not I grind my teeth. Apparently they could tell by looking at the teeth that I grind! :o

In answer, yes, I lost my job, and I've been grinding so badly that I've been waking myself up. Sometimes I wake up and my jaw is KILLING me.

Could that have destroyed the nerves in my teeth?

Can grinding my teeth cause a nerve to die, or even an abscess??

I know I should get a mouth guard, but my insurance does not cover that, and I'm saving all my money to pay for a crown for the root canal that was just done plus one more crown for a previous job. The insurance only covers half of crowns.

I really appreciate you guys answering my questions!
 
Re: Help my saga continues (pain in pulp-capped to

The grinding could certainly aggravate or cause a lot of your problems. Even if your insurance doesn't pay for a nightguard, it sounds like this could be the single most cost-saving investment you could make. For more info, see

 
Back
Top