Moderate to bad tooth pain after having an Onlay fitted

[TooManyFillings]

Before reading the details below, please see the following post from late October:

Should I still be getting pain when biting on a tooth with a temporary filling?

Some details: a few months ago I started getting mild to moderate pain when chewing involved my upper right rear molar. My dentist found nothing obvious wrong but seeing as it has a few pretty old fillings in it he suggested replacing them all with an 'onlay' instead of using a crown (the latter...

www.dentalfearcentral.org

So I've just had the temporary filling removed and the Onlay fitted. It was only a few hours ago as of the time of typing this but now I'm getting a constant moderate to fairly bad ache from the tooth when I'm not even drinking or chewing. It's also extremely sensitive to cold liquids (which wasn't the case when the temporary filling was in place, I then only had slight cold sensitivity). There's so much cold sensitivity now that even if I breathe with my mouth open or take a deep breath with it open the tooth is really painful.

As noted in the linked post above, I had pain when biting on it with the temporary filling, but not like this. I should also add that the upper and lower teeth in front of it are also aching a little, plus I have a moderate headache .......

I guess the nerve was aggravated when fitting the onlay and perhaps there is more sensitivity to cold because maybe the onlay isn't insulating as well as the temp filling due to the different material?

Whatever the case I'm very surprised that it's so much more painful than before. Took some paracetamol an hour ago and it's made no difference at all.

I would call my dentist but it's evening now. I'll call tomorrow if it's the same or worse but am curious what the experts here think. I am hopeful that it will settle down but plenty of past experience has taught me that whenever I've had a tooth with this level of pain something else needs to be done, and that something has always been a root canal filling or extraction. I can though hope that this time might be the exception to the rule ..........

 

[TooManyFillings]

Bit of an update nearly 24 hours later - the persistent nagging ache has abated a lot but there's still an awful lot of cold sensitivity. If I so much as sharply suck in air via my mouth while indoors the tooth is very painful. Outside in cooler air it's far worse. Talking can be a painful problem outside. Drinking anything cold requires the use of a straw to ensure that the liquid avoids the tooth. As for biting on it - not dared to try that yet!

I guess this could be Pulpitis? (something that I've had before in a couple of teeth and the treatment was a root canal. Hopefully it's reversible and as this tooth was re-filled a month ago it might go away, although I'm still a bit puzzled why the pain is now far worse than it was when the temporary 'filling'/onlay was in place).

All that sad, and bearing in mind I'm of course not a dentist and have only been doing a bit of reading on the subject, my own suspicion is that pulpitis started a few months ago, replacing the filling didn't help and now with the onlay in place that has greatly increased the temperature sensitivity of the tooth (perhaps the pressure sensitivity too but I'm avoiding testing that right now). The thing is, will it settle down? Hard to say, only time will tell I guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if I end up needing a root canal in this tooth as well just to add to my root-filled teeth collection.

 

[Gordon]

Something isn't right with the inlay. Get back onto the dentist. Might not have been fully sealed or the bonding hasn't quite worked.

 

[TooManyFillings]

Thanks Gordon, will do.

 

[Gordon]

Let's hear how you get on.

 

[TooManyFillings]

Sure. The cold sensitivity in the tooth has eased a little more today so I'm currently hoping that it will continue to improve. If it doesn't or if it gets worse I'll go and see my dentist or one of the others dentists at the practice, even out of hours if necessary as they provide such a service.

Today is the first day since the procedure (two days ago) that I've eaten solid food and I don't want to risk chewing on the side with the onlay just yet (give it more time to settle down). However I do notice that a lot of chewing on the good side makes the side with the onlay ache a little in that area, even though the affected tooth doesn't in fact make any contact with the molar below it. No idea why.

 

[onlay_patient]

Hi, can you please let me know how it is going now? I had an onlay just a few hours ago and am experiencing exactly the same symptoms as you had.

 

[TooManyFillings]

@onlay_patient Bearing in mind the cause of my issues may be different to yours ....... I ended up having a root canal in the tooth. While this got rid of the cold sensitivity it unfortunately didn't allow me to properly bite on the tooth without a bit of pain and discomfort, this often caused an ache that could last for hours. The biting pain and longer lasting ache would sometimes ease off for some days if I avoided chewing on it but it was easily aggravated after more chewing. I went back to the root canal specialist a couple of times but nothing was ever found on further examinations and CT scans to indicate a problem.

Eventually, after enduring it for over six months, I decided to have the tooth out.

Apparently when the tooth was removed a tiny fragment of bone came away with it, indicating that there was perhaps a bone-related issue. Perhaps an old infection? Unsure, but since it was removed I've had no issues where the tooth was.

As mentioned, bear in mind that the cause of your issues could well be different to mine and yours may have a very different outcome.

Funnily enough, the tooth in front of the removed one has been giving me a bit of grief since I had a rather intensive cleaning session a couple of days ago with the hygienist, I had no issues with it before that. Hopefully that will settle down soon ....... (there's a bit of pain when chewing on it and a bit of an ache afterwards).