Looking for a little support and advice over weird/odd incident

[chrisg2017]

Hi everybody. This is a great forum and I spent a ton of time on it in the last couple months reading all your success stories as relates wisdom teeth removal and I can truly say that a lot of you people really helped me get my butt in that chair and have it done. So thank you for that. I've never been a dental phobic per se, but I did discover I had a fear of surgery, anesthesia etc as I am only 26 and have never had to undergo either one yet. So I could have needed those things done anywhere on my body and likely felt the same way about it. Everything ended up going great as relates to the surgery itself but here is where the odd incident comes in, and it happened at the consultation.

Basically, I hurt my front teeth on the panoramic X-ray machine. Because I was a nervous wreck I wasn't thinking straight and when it was time to unclench my teeth and take my mouth off the hard piece of plastic you bite down on with your two front teeth, I didn't do that, and proceeded to step off the machine, essentially leaving my front teeth ON the machine. Now I didn't literally leave them there, but you should understand what I mean. What happened was...pretty bad looking craze lines (determined to not be cracks) down my two front teeth I've never seen before, blood from the gum a few days after the incident, and persistent almost throbbing discomfort and borderline pain at times in the two front teeth....ever since! Mind you it's been 4 weeks since the incident! Now I've researched this to death and it's basically the only thing on my mind all day every day. It's really starting to take its toll on my psyche. Upon researching I learned of all the things that would indicate needing a root canal or tooth pulling from trauma. I pass all the tests: no sensitivity to hot or cold, no loose teeth, no absolutely intolerable pain that doesn't let me sleep, etc etc. I've gotten TWO different dentists opinions. They all say, after taking x-rays and doing a few other tests, that there is nothing they can see that would indicate needing a root canal or the pulling of the teeth. One even told me it hurts because I actually think about it too much. Well, I think about it too much because it's a persistent 24/7 throb in my two front teeth that my body won't seem to shake off and heal!

So here I am, feeling like it'll NEVER feel better, dentists cant diagnose whats wrong with me, and I feel like life will never be the same! I don't care what kind of trauma you receive, a month later and it should feel better! So that leads me to my ultimate question. Am I wrong? Is it possible that it needs MORE time to heal? And is there anybody out there that have hit their teeth off something so bad to the point where it didn't need any sort of drastic attention like a root canal, pulling etc, but DID need a ton of time to feel normal again?

Now the doctor that told me I'm thinking about it too much has a tiny tiny point. It does tend to bother me less when my mind is occupied, like if i'm at work or mowing the lawn compared to when I'm just sitting in front of the TV at night relaxing. Relaxation time is when it bothers me most, and it is when my brain is focused in on it the most. But I still don't think the fact that I am thinking about it is WHY it bothers me so much. I'm more inclined to think that I'm thinking about it because the problem is actually there. I don't necessarily believe I am causing my self pain in my teeth because I want to, or because I simply just think about it too much. I think about it because it's impossible to not think about. It's discomfort that sometimes turns into pain and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon, causing me to have anxiety attacks about it and everything.

I want to end this here because I don't want to give everybody a novel to read but I think it's also worth mentioning that I have an impacted canine tooth with the baby tooth still in place that's NEVER given me any issues. I brought that fact to the attention of the dentist and he told me to diagnose what exactly the impacted canine tooth is doing would be extremely expensive as it would involve a very specific x-ray that sort of makes everything become 3D from what I understood. I also believe it would be a huge coincidence that this impacted canine tooth would start giving me a problem only after hitting my teeth off the x-ray machine, after not being an issue in all my life.

To sum it all up, after multiple dental visits and them not seeing anything wrong, have any of you guys ever received trauma to the front teeth/teeth that simply just took weeks or even months to feel better again? If not, is it not unheard of? Are they ever gonna feel normal again? The longer it takes, the more it starts to effect my mental well being. I am starting to think I am going to freak out and need a padded room if I cant figure out what's wrong with me and it doesn't subside. I am yet to address to the oral surgeon himself that I hit my teeth off his equipment because he and his office have been amazing throughout the surgery process and took really good care of me, and I hate being confrontational. I don't necessarily want the opinion of somebody who thinks I could be a potential lawsuit either, when in fact I don't want to sue anybody, just want to get to the bottom of whats wrong with me so I can have my freakin' life back. My insurance does not cover root canals or dental implants, so there is a slight possibility that if I needed those things, I might be looking right at him. Can I trust him to tell me I need those things after his office caused them? I have no idea. The whole situation is just ridiculous. I go and take care of a nightmare I was in, and cause another one in the process.

Thank you for reading and for any input you may take the time out of your day to give me!

 

[sunflower32]

Hi chrisg2017. Welcome! While I've never injured a tooth/teeth to the degree that you've injured yours, your experience reminds me just a bit of something I've recently experienced, so I thought I'd share. A couple of months ago, I had a cavity filled, and a couple of weeks after that was done, it started bothering me just a bit because my bite was feeling off (the filling was too high). It wasn't too bad so I ignored it and hoped it'd go away, which of course is not the best way to tackle a problem!(just as an FYI, around the same time, I tried using a store-bought night guard to help my nighttime grinding, but didn't like it partly because it made my bite feel off; when I stopped using it, the rest of my bite went back to normal, except for that one tooth with the new filling in it).

So, I ignored my "off" bite for weeks, mainly because I only recently started going back to the dentist after 18 years of avoidance, and I still get very anxious at the thought that I need to go back, even for something so minor. After a few weeks, the tooth was starting to ache, especially after I ate, which makes sense since I'm putting a lot of pressure on that tooth when I eat. Anyway, I finally bit the bullet and went back to the dentist last week Tuesday. It took the dentist 10 minutes to sand down the filling, and I was out of there. I was warned that the tooth would feel a bit "bruised" for a couple of days, probably due to that electric sander thingy he used to sand it down. The tooth was already feeling bruised due to my bite being off, so it ended up taking a week before I even started to notice that the ache was subsiding a bit. As that week dragged on, I was starting to get worried that the ache wasn't going to go away, it was going to get worse, and I'd have to make another dreaded dentist appointment.

So the point of my long-winded story is that I now realize that teeth are very sensitive and that the slightest alteration to their "norm" can really mess with them. The ache in my tooth is still there (it's been 9 days since I got the filling fixed), but it's slowly subsiding. I was wondering if you've tried "favoring" your injured teeth, maybe by trying not to eat on them and/or brushing them much more gently than you normally would. I've noticed with my achy tooth that it'd get worse after I put a lot of pressure on it by eating. I also noticed that my tooth tended to feel better in the morning, and I think it's because I wear a night guard (a better custom-made one!) while I'm sleeping that keeps my top and bottom teeth from touching each other, so I was basically giving that tooth a break all night by not putting any pressure on it.

My feeling about your situation (and I'm not a dentist so it's just a guess) is that maybe your everyday activities (eating, brushing your teeth, etc.) aren't giving your teeth the chance to fully heal. Since you can't put a cast on your front teeth to give them a chance to heal, maybe try being extra gentle with them and put as little pressure on them as possible for the next few weeks. It seems it might take awhile for your teeth to settle down, so to speak, due to the level of injury, but being extra gentle certainly couldn't hurt. Sorry if this response was a bit on the wordy side, but I hope it helps you. Good luck, and keep us posted on how you're doing!

 

[chrisg2017]

thank you for that reply. ive been trying to not use the teeth as much and im still not getting any better. its been 5 weeks since the incident and 3 weeks since the wisdom teeth removal. ive been laying of all my teeth in general and been on a spaghettio diet for a month now with the occasional solid food but thats been real recently. after a bunch of research ive found something i think it could be and its called Sprained Tooth Syndrom.

I have a lot in common with it. It mentions that the pain can persist indefinitely. That's sure what it feels like is going to happen. I'm freaking out. Time to make another dentist appointment and tell them what I have since apparently none of them even thought once that I could be suffering from this so called STS. unreal...