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Ongoing RCT Problems - Dentist Pushed Inflammation through tip?

R

rebeccauk

Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2011
Messages
32
Location
United Kingdom
Hi All
I've been documenting my journey with a RCT which began on 15th December. At the time the dentist identified irreversible pulpitis and said the RCT was straightforward and he expected it to clear up quickly. After the RCT I've had endless problems with pain. I've had two courses of amoxicillin and been in pain ranging from mild discomfort to absolute agony.
I'm now approaching a month on and still having pain. Todays feeling is one of a very uncomfortable hot/ cold sensation on the tooth and gum, occasional throbs and a clicking/ movement sensation when I put my tongue on the back of it.

This is a front upper incisor and the dentist has repeated the procedure once, opened it up and cleaned it out to no avail.

The dentist is going to re-do the cleaning process and open it back up on Thursday, however, I spoke to him briefly on Friday and he admitted that perhaps during the initial RCT some of the inflamed/ infected material was pushed out of the tip of the tooth and this could be some explanation of the problem. I'm not sure what to make of this - whether this is something that the body could naturally manage or if this indicates a bigger problem that was destined to cause me problems further down the line.

I'm really at the end of my tether with this situation. I'm a nervous patient and absolutely fixated on the sensations and pain in the tooth and having to use all my resources to cope with this. I've missed out on a family Christmas due to the pain I've been in and feel that there is no end in sight here.
 
Ask to see or just go and see yourself an endodontist, this is a specialist and they are best placed to have a look at this and treat it. If the tooth has been opened up once already with no success I would be a bit worried about the dentist doing this again. :XXLhug::XXLhug:
 
Ask to see or just go and see yourself an endodontist, this is a specialist and they are best placed to have a look at this and treat it. If the tooth has been opened up once already with no success I would be a bit worried about the dentist doing this again. :XXLhug::XXLhug:
I had this problem with a tooth. The original root canal broke through the tip and it took ages to settle - about 3 months. After it did last for 10 years before needing a re-root. However the re-root was carried out be an endodontist and £800 later, there was no relief and the tip was still infected. I had an apicectomy to remove the infection by an oral surgeon and still no joy. I am 7 weeks post apicectomy and taking one day at a time, but think it will eventually need to be extracted as currently it is not settling.

So depending on how important the tooth is, I would suggest thinking about a proper honest diagnosis - something I find difficult to get, particularly as they all want to make money out of you. Whilst some dentists make out they are trying to save the tooth, they are really making lots of money for themselves, before eventually having to extract the tooth anyway. Sorry for the negative view, but not come across any dentist that does not want to make a lot of money out of their patients and perform lots of work, so they can extract every last bit of money out of you.
 
Sorry for the negative view, but not come across any dentist that does not want to make a lot of money out of their patients and perform lots of work, so they can extract every last bit of money out of you.

Sorry to hear that zeezee, it really sounds like you haven't had much luck with dentists! Are you in a position to look around for a different one?

I promise, there really are plenty of dentists out there who are *not* like that, I have met a few myself - there are a couple of things in my mouth where if they felt like it they could push lots of treatment to make money, but they haven't - instead the advice has been "leave it unless it starts to cause problems".


FWIW I think often they really are trying to save the tooth, but unfortunately it can't always be done. It's generally better to keep the real tooth if they can though, which is why they try.
 
The dentist is going to re-do the cleaning process and open it back up on Thursday, however, I spoke to him briefly on Friday and he admitted that perhaps during the initial RCT some of the inflamed/ infected material was pushed out of the tip of the tooth and this could be some explanation of the problem. I'm not sure what to make of this - whether this is something that the body could naturally manage or if this indicates a bigger problem that was destined to cause me problems further down the line.

Meanwhile just spotted that you were due to have this done today - how did you get on Rebecca? What was the outcome?
 
Meanwhile just spotted that you were due to have this done today - how did you get on Rebecca? What was the outcome?

Hi thanks for asking yes the tooth was opened up again yesterday and recleaned in the canal and sent away for another 2 weeks for it to settle before the permanent filling. So far it doesn't feel much different...the pain is still there but the dentist said there is no way there is infection in the canal as there is nothing left inside it so any pain now can only be ligament pain external to the tooth. However for the past week the tooth next to this one -the right front upper incisor has been experiencing extreme sensitivity to hot, cold and sometimes anything touching it...this is also a root canalled tooth which was completed 20 years ago! However before all the treatment started the dentist tested this tooth with what I think was an electrical current and I did have a reaction with it although delayed compared to my healthy teeth. I'm now concerned that this old root canal is failing and struggling from the shocking sensitivity...wondering if this is a by- product of the work being done on the neighbouring tooth or just bad luck that my old root canal seems to be throwing symptoms of failing. I'm going to start a new thread to ask this
 
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