My ongoing dental nightmare

[Deedee2604]

I just thought I would share my story here. I have never been afraid of the dentist and went every 6 months with never any major problems. Well, about 2 years ago I went to a lousy dentist that butchered two of my teeth. One of the teeth ended up with a root canal (I believe from having too much work in a short period of time) and the other one will eventually because he replaced a silver filling that wasn't even bothering me and literally drilled the back of my tooth off and placed the filling right on top of the nerve. Ugh! Anyways, my dental health has snowballed and gone downhill ever since. Another root canal (number two) on the other side of my mouth (tooth with older filling started to act up out of nowhere, would ache for long periods after cold).

My most recent debacle started with yet another tooth dying that needed a root canal (root canal number three). After the root canal I went to the dentist to have the temporary filling out and a permanent filling placed. The dentist drilled the tooth back so it was out of occlusion so that it wouldn't break before I got it crowned. It was an first upper molar. At the same visit I had a crown that she place a year earlier adjusted on the opposite side of my mouth because I always felt it was just a tad high as I could feel it when I clenched. I have not had good experiences with crowns as the bite never feels right. I decided to get over my fear of asking for an adjustment and had her tweak this crown. Well, these two things done on opposite sides of my mouth threw my bite into chaos. I felt as if something was hitting so hard. Not even when chewing, just sitting there, I would move my jaw in a certain way without paying attention and bang! This was on the side of my mouth that the crown was adjusted. I have been grinding my teeth for years apparently and it felt as if the teeth on one side of my mouth were longer than the other at this point. Went back to dentist she adjusted crown again...a lot, not stopping to ask me how it feels, just adjust, adjust, adjust. Well that crown turned out to be too low after all that adjusting. I decided to go to another dentist. Well, I went to several dentists for an opinion and then the fear and phobia kicked in. I started to panic, get anxiety and panic attacks, couldn't make a decision about who to let fix this problem. All the time my teeth are banging into one another. I just let them bang because I was too afraid to make a decision. Ever since the tooth with the crown had been adjusted, it got more and more sensitive to pressure. Not sure why as that tooth has a root canal. Then the crown fell off! A temporary was put on by one of the dentists I tried in an attempt to raise the height since the crown had been over adjusted. Then I started to get pain on the side of my mouth where my teeth were banging. I went to the endodontist who found cracks in a different tooth on that side of my mouth...another root canal (number four) that did not relieve my pain by the way.

So I finally made a decision to have my bite adjusted using a certain method called DTR by a prosthodontist in Boston. I have 4 1/2 weeks until I go. In the meantime I am getting more and more pain in those teeth that are banging. I went back to endodontist about a month ago and he couldn't justify any work at that time. Pain has gotten more frequent and worse since then. Burning pain, toothache, zinging zapping nerve pain in tooth. I just know one of those teeth that have been banging is going to the dark side. I am actually fearful that it could be one of three teeth, or maybe all three that are acting up. I am fearful to have anything done. I need this bite adjustment. It takes a month to get an appointment and if I have to cancel for any reason I will just have to wait yet another month. I don't think my mental health can handle it. I don't want to be in pain, but I don't want the wrong tooth done again. By wrong I mean whichever one is causing my pain. I don't want my bite messed up any more than it already is. I don't want my bite altered by a root canal or filling and have my bite change again to have the pressure now placed on a different tooth causing yet more teeth to be damaged. On top of that, one of the dentists I saw thought I had two cavities on the side of my mouth that is acting up. He didn't feel they were the cause of my pain and didn't want to jump into filling them yet since I was having this problem with my bite, that was back in May. I'm afraid everything will lead to yet more root canals!

I am just freaking out about what to do. I need to make it to that bite adjustment!

 

[Davee]

So sorry you are going through this. I hope the bite adjustment goes well. Keep strong.

 

[carole]

Hi if this has been an ongoing problem and your bite has been out for some time now it could be that the pain is from your jaw. Has anyone checked your jaw at all ?

A bad alignment of our teeth can cause jaw problems and also with all the clenching and grinding it can cause all sorts of problems with our jaws.

I hope you get some relief soon, good luck with your appointment

 

[Deedee2604]

Thanks for the suport. The pain is definitely coming from the teeth. I did get my jaw checked out. I just pray I make to this appointment without something causing me to delay it.