K
KittyKat
Member
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2020
- Messages
- 28
- Location
- UK
I've been having some pain, off and on, in an upper molar for about 6 months now, but the last few weeks it's got slightly worse. The pain is like a pressure sort of pain, gets worse if I bend over or after I've been lying down. I don't feel the pain at the root; it literally feels like on the bottom, the biting surface. It's not sensitive to hot or cold and doesn't hurt when I eat, but I am now getting some discomfort when I bite together. It feels like when you've just had a filling and your opposite teeth come into contact with it for the first time, feels a bit sore and odd for about a day or two. I have a strange taste in my mouth and keep getting a sore throat.
Dental X-Rays show no sign of infection but how accurate are they? Because in my experience I've been here before when in pain with a tooth and they say no sign of infection. A few weeks/months later I'm in agony with a proper toothache and looking at extraction or root canal. I really wanted to avoid that this time and try and get any work that needs doing done before I reach that stage, particularly as dentists are so booked up at the moment. But two dentists have said they can't find anything wrong apart from a filling which looks like it might be leaking a bit. Could a leaking filling (another dentist called it unstable) cause these symptoms and might all I need is the filling replaced? One dentist said they could replace the filling but said it wasn't urgent.
So, my questions are- could this tooth be infected but it's not showing up on X-Rays, or is it the filling causing this problem? I've read that normal Bitewing X-Rays aren't that good at detecting infection or an abscess. Is there a better X-Ray I could ask for that would show more clearly what is going on?
Dental X-Rays show no sign of infection but how accurate are they? Because in my experience I've been here before when in pain with a tooth and they say no sign of infection. A few weeks/months later I'm in agony with a proper toothache and looking at extraction or root canal. I really wanted to avoid that this time and try and get any work that needs doing done before I reach that stage, particularly as dentists are so booked up at the moment. But two dentists have said they can't find anything wrong apart from a filling which looks like it might be leaking a bit. Could a leaking filling (another dentist called it unstable) cause these symptoms and might all I need is the filling replaced? One dentist said they could replace the filling but said it wasn't urgent.
So, my questions are- could this tooth be infected but it's not showing up on X-Rays, or is it the filling causing this problem? I've read that normal Bitewing X-Rays aren't that good at detecting infection or an abscess. Is there a better X-Ray I could ask for that would show more clearly what is going on?