• Dental Phobia Support

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Let it be over soon!

T

Tashaskiba

Junior member
Joined
Nov 20, 2019
Messages
6
Location
Uk
Hi everyone,
I’ve been reading these forums for about a week now and it’s saving my sanity (only just!)
Basically I’m going through absolute dental hell at the moment. Here’s the story.
I’ve been having pain in my premolar on the right hand side for a few months, swollen gum, shooting nerve pain intermittently. I went to my dentist and he gave around the guns a clean and gave me some sensitive toothpaste, all was well for a while, he took an X-ray and pointed out a shadowy line and said he didn’t know what it was, it looked like a crack but I did have ‘crack’ symptoms, this was the last time he xrayed me and it wasn’t mentioned again. few months later the pain comes back, it’s a bit worse, I stop eating on that side of my mouth which then causes me to crack my tooth on the opposite side which has similar deep filling work, but it’s fixed without numbing because it’s not sensitive, the dentist then replaced the filling on the sensitive side. The pain worsens, I give it two weeks thinking it was a deep filling it may settle, no dice. I go back last week he replaces it with a different type of filling, intense pain for two days, Wednesday he decides to start a root canal, Says come back Friday to finish it, i get a phone call after being in agony for two days saying he’s had a family emergency and I can’t go back in till 2nd of December. At this point I break down on the phone. I fee a bit selfish because obviously a family emergency is top priority. They say to ring back if there’s any problems and I can go in and see another dentist as an emergency. I do that this Monday. The lady takes out my temp filling, has a rummage, no numbing because it’s dead right.
Well she hits a nerve and I shoot through the roof and instantly cry, she quickly numbs me up and gets the nerve out. I’m traumatised but I leave.
Walking around the shops a couple of hours later the most almighty nerve pain shot through my tooth and nearly had me on the floor. I rang the dentist in tears and she wrote a prescription for antibiotics? I’ve been taking them for 3 days now and I still have tooth pain all along the jaw and around the tooth itself. I’m waiting it out today but I can’t take anymore ibuprofen my stomach aches intensely. I’ll ring later or tomorrow but what are the odds that if I ask for an extraction they’ll give me one? Seems to be the only way now. Even though I have trauma from a extraction I had just after my son was born with dry socket etc. I just want it to be over, I’m crying constantly and I just want my life back ?
 
Dear Tashaskiba,

so sorry to read what you are going through :( I can see the move from being brave and keeping up with the pain to the point of just take the tooth out now. It also seems to me that the last dentist didn't give you much of understanding or background information about what is happening with the tooth and what to expect.
I was wondering, was there any change in the pain in the last three days?

There is so much pain, anxiety and overwhelm in your post, I can't even imagine what you are going through and I definitely get your wish to get rid of the tooth, however wondering whether it would be just a quick fix or a wise decision. I think you do not want to have the tooth out, you just want the unbearable pain to stop. Obviously the root canal treatment is not done yet and once it is finished, there won't be any pain so a good question might be where to get help now.
I was wondering whether seeing a different (nice) dentist to ask for help might be an idea? There must be a way to get you out of pain without removing the tooth..

Venting and writing always helps so please feel free to write as much as you find helpful.

All the best wishes
 
Tashaskiba,

Welcome to DFC!! So sorry what you are going through.. Sorry you experienced pain in the chair too. I know some people that ask for no numbing but maybe next time ask for it even if it is a dead tooth just for that reassurance you will not feel anything at all. I know my dentist knows I'm really nervous about feeling pain so will give me local even if root canal ed tooth. There is still soft tissue and just being numb might really help . Even with a laser for fillings my dentist still uses a strong topical. What you are experiencing this whole thing would be really overwhelming and frustrating and disheartening.. its not only physical, which tooth pain can be so excruciating but the frustration and seems especially that things don't get better but just seem to get worse each time or new.

I wish you could get some understanding and really kind care like @Enarete said..I also Agree with Enarete, in holding off on the extraction , as you can't get that tooth back and if you could go to someone who is painfree in their work and they could understand the issue and really help. Maybe things may get better? Hope the antibiotics give some relief for you!

Glad you wrote here. I know it has really helped me to be able to connect with people who really understand here.! Hope you will get relief soon .
 
Hi there! Thanks for the reply!
I think my problem stems from the fact it’s been since May on and off and there seems to be no diagnosis of what’s happening, no one is any wiser and the pain has only increased, every procedure I think will be the one to get me out of pain then the pain remains, never diminished, the fact the dentist mentioned a crack but has now seemed to forgotten about it makes me paranoid that I have a cracked root hence why nothing is working? It hasn’t been xrayed at all since the problem escalated. I’m unsure, I just feel like a menace to my dentist at this point and embarrassed each time I ring. I also don’t want to finish this root canal and still be in pain and even more traumatised, I also physically can’t keep up with the pain meds for another week and half I fear I’ll give myself a ulcer. Maybe I should ring around other dentists but I’m nhs and they are hard to come by, The cost of private isn’t an option I’m afraid! I have now lost so much weight I’m deemed under weight which frankly I never thought was possible for me! ? I have the best little boy and it breaks my heart that I can’t play the way I usually do with him and he doesn’t understand why. I just think if I could get it extracted it’d be over at worst I may get dry socket but I’ve had that before then it’s done. No more wondering and panicking. Just in limbo at the moment.
 
Hi there,
So sorry you are suffering so much! I am not a dentist but my mom went through something very similar a few years ago and it was a tooth that cracked to the root. Her scenario instantly came to mind while reading over your posts because what you described was so similar so I think you could be on the right track in your thinking. From her experience, we found out that you cannot always see a crack or how far it goes on an X-ray. Usually they can tell by drilling down and doing the root canal but they’ve started the root canal and not said anything so now I’m not sure what to think. Getting another clinical opinion may be a good idea if at all possible.
 
Thank you all for replying, @krlovesherkids777 @Enarete @kitkat ! I’ve calmed down a bit, or am so traumatised I’m on another plain of existence ? it’s still not manageable without painkillers, not intense infection ache but shooting pain if I turn my head or speak too much etc, i personally still don’t think the tooth is dead. I shouldn’t be able to feel nerve pain in a tooth which has no nerves ? I don’t think it’s negligence on the dentists part, I know these things happen with hidden channels etc, my plan is to take my course of antibiotics until completion which will be Monday, then if no better and I’m holding out zero hope at this point! I’ll ring again, insist on an X-ray to see if they can shed anymore light on the matter. I’m more than happy to complete a root canal if I know there’s a good chance it’ll work, im just desperate and don’t want to draw this situation out longer than it needs too! Baileys and mince pies are calling and I want to be better for Christmas season! I’m managing to eat more with the help of strong pain killers now so the stronger meds aren’t hurting my belly as much. It’s just always in the back of my mind that I can’t live like this long term. Fingers crossed it’ll all be resolved next week!
 
I can sympathize. If you have read any of my posts, some of my experiences were very similar, but with two molars.

I hope they can get you sorted out quickly!
 
Oh my goodness you’ve been through a lot.

No advice, not a dentist, but I do send encouragement. Just hang on.
 
Thank you so much everyone, my journey isn’t over yet @MountainMama ive read your story several times, I find it so inspiring that youve carried on with such dignity and care for those on this forum. It’s a brutal path the one of dental anxiety, constantly second guessing whether your problems are real or self made and a reflection of other things going on. Mines a bit of both. But I definitely still have pain in my yet to be completed root canal. (Next Monday is the day) I have pain in the side I’m now favouring chewing on. To the point where it’s more distressing than the pain from the root canal! I’ve broken down several times these past few weeks. I’m not a religious person, despite being raised Roman Catholic ? but I’ve even got down on my knees and prayed for an end. I’ve got such trauma from being a new mum with an infection and a dry socket that even the slightest inkling of pain nearly 4 years on I become a wreck. It hurts, it’s real but I may make things doubly worse because I’m so scared, I show up, I do the treatments but I’m terrified the entire time, I do it because I want to be the best person I can be for my son, I want things to be normal and not dominated by my teeth, I want to be ok again. I’ll carry on as long as it takes. For my little boy and for the little babbas in my future (fingers crossed) sorry for the rant! I’ll post an update when all is done next week!
 
Sometimes the mental anxiety is worse than the dental pain! I know I have been putting off treating my lower left first molar because that is my only chewing side right now. It is hurting, but I honestly cannot face another extraction right now, since I won't have any more root canals. I haven't gone in because I don't want them to test it and tell me it needs a root canal.
 
It’s so scary when you think it’s over then something else starts going wrong, i really hope it’s an easy fix for you whenever you decide to go in! I’ve had minimal pain from my partial root canal today but the tooth on the opposite side is driving me crazy! It’s not overwhelming pain but it’s sore and niggling away, like I’ve chipped some filling I can’t see. I’ve kept to a liquid diet today to give it a rest from chewing as it’s been my dominant side for months whilst the other side has been hurting. I’m just hoping the dentist will look at it when I go in for the last part of my root canal, it’s not sensitive to hot or cold so fingers crossed it’s an easy enough fix maybe a new filling ? I clench my jaw at night too and that really doesn’t help matters at all for my poor teeth. I’d be happy to have full dentures sometimes but I’m only 31 and want to try and keep at least a couple of natural teeth ?
 
It’s so scary when you think it’s over then something else starts going wrong, i really hope it’s an easy fix for you whenever you decide to go in! I’ve had minimal pain from my partial root canal today but the tooth on the opposite side is driving me crazy! It’s not overwhelming pain but it’s sore and niggling away, like I’ve chipped some filling I can’t see. I’ve kept to a liquid diet today to give it a rest from chewing as it’s been my dominant side for months whilst the other side has been hurting. I’m just hoping the dentist will look at it when I go in for the last part of my root canal, it’s not sensitive to hot or cold so fingers crossed it’s an easy enough fix maybe a new filling ? I clench my jaw at night too and that really doesn’t help matters at all for my poor teeth. I’d be happy to have full dentures sometimes but I’m only 31 and want to try and keep at least a couple of natural teeth ?

I know what you mean. I am 40, and hope dentures are a long ways off. Just dealing with this flipper is bad enough. It wouldn't be as bad if my life were not so busy with kids, job, etc. I know if I had to get them, I would deal, but here's hoping it is a ways off yet.
 
Pain of any kind for a long time can make you crazy. At times I took so many aspirin just to get a break from the pain. Hopefully you can find a solution soon.
 
Tashaskiba how are you doing now? I was so sad to read your story. I am in a similar situation. I hope you got yours resolved? I would love to hear how things are doing for you. I am suffering big time. This is so hard. :(
 
Hi @Acheygirl!
well it’s been around 2 months now since my root canal has been finished (still no crown yet) and I’m still a bit unsure of the success, the sensitivity I once felt is gone, but I get the odd ache deep in my jaw but it’s now and again with no real reason and goes just as quickly. But I made myself very very ill over Christmas with worry, I think it was a breakdown, I was taking super strength tablets even when I didn’t have that much pain because I was so scared of the pain ruining Christmas,my sons birthday is New Year’s Day so I was so terrified that I’d ruin his birthday by having toothache and having tofind a dentist. Every time I get a twinge I panic, I work out when the dentist is open when I could fit in an appointment etc, so verrryyyy long story short a lot of my pain is mental now. But there’s still some odd symptoms that I’m not 100% on the success rate. Time will tell! But enough about me, how are you holding up?Is it a pesky root canal causing you problems?
 
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