Long Story, few questions if anyone can offer advice, shadows, cotton pellet, dead nerve

[MUMMYJEM]

Long Story, few questions if anyone can offer advice, shadows, cotton pellet, dead nerve

Hi Everyone Looking for abit advice support

I went to a new dentist today after moving area, with toothache (wish i never went was worst dentist trip ever)

after doing various x rays and testing 3 of my teeth they fount 2 problems one being an abscess on my tooth and the other a shadow on the root/nerve of the other tooth

First question a shadow on the root,nerve of the tooth what does that mean? ( i was in too much pain to ask i just wanted to get it sorted)

They dealt with the tooth with abscess on first as this is the one that hurt the most, he said i either have 2 options to have root canal or to extract it, which i choose to have root canal rather try and save tooth, anyhow he started doing this but when he was drilling out the filling that was already there, he fount a cotton pellet in there, (i assume there not suppose to be in there, as he was very taken back this? if these are not suppose to be in there, is there anything i could do in regards to the other dental sugery?

after he carried on filing and put files in my mouth and took x ray with the files in my tooth, and it came back that the nerve were dead in the tooth, surely if the nerve are dead in my tooth then i shouldn't have tooth ache?

i got to go back on the 20th December to have the root canal finished but im really scared of all the problems that occurred today please any help support advice would be great (maybe im just a worrier

p.s in a lot pain especially when i open my mouth for talking, eating around the jaw...any recommendations on what pain killers to take?

 

[Steve In Cleveland]

Re: Long Story, few questions if anyone can offer advice, shadows, cotton pellet, dead nerve

I'm going to take a couple of guesses based on your description and my experience, although I'm not a dentist and your descriptions are a little unclear. My best recommendation would be, give your dentist a call and have him go over the findings with you now that you're not in the chair and panicky. He should be able and willing to answer your questions in more detail.

The "shadow" sounds like something your dentist observed on the x-ray. Typically I think a shadow on the x-ray indicates possible bone loss. That could be decay or weakened tooth structure. Sometimes that requires corrective work, sometimes the dentist will just advise you to brush/floss well in that area to prevent further decay.

As for the other tooth, you made the right decision to try to save the tooth. Even with a root canal, the remaining tooth structure can often be perfectly healthy, and with a new crown, the finished tooth can be stronger than the original. I have no idea why you'd have a cotton pellet left in your tooth. Dentists sometimes place these (often saturated with medication) in a temporary filling, until the tooth can be properly sealed. They are not supposed to be left in permanently. Without knowing anything else about the tooth, it sounds like your former dentist finished a root canal or deep filling with a temporary, and didn't properly seal the tooth? I don't know what kind of recourse you might have against your former dentist, or how long that cotton pellet was in there, but it's not normal for such a thing to be in there longer than a couple of weeks, while a root canal is in progress. That sounds like a mistake or bad treatment by your former dentist.

Having removed the cotton pellet, your dentist has now cleaned out the canals, and finished you with another temporary filling. The purpose here is to clear up any remaining infection in the canals before permanently filling. On your next visit, your dentist will "re-open" the canal, file a little more, and fill with a permanent material called gutta-percha. This is done very carefully to make sure the entire inside of the tooth is completely sealed, and usually a new artificial crown is recommended to provide strength and further protection. Doing the root canal in two visits is perfectly normal and not anything to worry about. Usually the second visit is a little easier, since as you say the nerves have been removed.

It's not unusual to have some pain for as much as 24-48 hours after the initial root canal therapy, since your tooth has been jostled around a bit from all the filing, and often the tip of the root can still be pretty sensitive for a day or two, even though the tooth itself is dead. It's also possible, since the root canal is not complete, that the roots aren't completely clean yet, resulting in some residual pain.

I think, from the sound of things, that your dentist thinks the tooth is savable, and you should expect that he can complete the root canal on the next visit, and you will probably want to have a crown made. (Another visit or two, sadly). No guarantees, of course, but that's kind of the way it typically goes. I'd also expect your pain to let up/go away over the next day or so; if it doesn't, give your dentist a call.

Basically I think you're past the worst of it and are getting the right treatment now, and will probably be able to save the tooth and be pain free. But give your dentist a call and have him go through things with you himself, since he's got the x-rays and knows what he saw and did.