Ongoing mystery dentist gave up

[sadtooth]

I did not go to the dentist for 15 years (fear, being broke, no pain). When I did start having some mild pain after loosing a filling I went to nearest dentist and they said I needed root canal. I freaked out, but figured I had no choice. It was the most horrible experience of my entire life. So much pain, I could not breath, I was gagging. At one point I could still feel the drill so he gave me a 'deep injection' of meds. I immediately felt burning pain on my entire side of my face up into my ear. I thought I would go deaf from the pain! Eventually they finished the root canal treatment (about 2 hours because they had to keep stopping so I could sit up and breath). 2 years have passed. I still have mild discomfort on that side of my face. Not really pain, just pressure. Not one specific tooth either, its the general area of my jaw. I have been back to 4 different dentists. Had all my old fillings replaced just to be safe. Still feel something is wrong on that side. Pressure, heat, cold, tapping...nothing makes it worse. But nothing helps either (traditional pain relievers or OTC NSAIDs). Dentist finally says xrays look totally fine, but maybe the root canal treatment needs redone if there is something he cant see on the xray. Wants me to go to endo specialist...but my insurance does NOT cover that. I checked. But he said it could also be nerve damage, and only way to tell is to have the root canal re done and if the pain is still there its the nerve! He also gave me a round of antibiotics to take just in case??? WTF. What do I do? Just deal with pain. It comes and goes, and is subtle so not unbearable but still not fun. When it flairs up it is all I can think about so it does affect my day to day life. Or look into it further and go into debt with the endo even if that is just a shot in the dark? My family things it is PTSD from the bad experience and think is all in my head to begin with.

 

[badmouth]

Please beg, borrow or steal to get the money and go to a good endodontist. It could very well be that one or both of the root canals was not done properly (it sounds like your dentist didn't have super-good technique). You really need to get them evaluated, as if that is the case things will get worse rather than better. Perhaps see if insurance will cover an oral medicine dentist.