S
Stasisesque
Member
- Joined
- May 25, 2008
- Messages
- 25
My fear of dentists has gotten so severe I've actually been back and forth to this site for months and haven't worked up the courage to post about my many, many fears. Oddly, I'm only managing to post now as the current problem I have doesn't seem to worry me that much (and of course, now I'm concerned I've jinxed it and it's the worst possible thing to ever happen to a tooth ever!).
I have an amalgam filling on one of my molars, it's around 15 years old (which I originally thought was pretty good going, but have since found out that's not brilliant) and was done on a tooth I honestly can't remember ever being a "complete" tooth - as soon as it came in, it seemed to start falling apart. So, there's more filling than tooth I think. Now though, there's sharp sensitive pain to the front of the tooth/filling, and I've inspected it a lot and think maybe a bit of the surrounding tooth might have chipped off somewhere along the line. I know I need it sorted, but I have no idea what is likely to happen...
The tooth has never caused me any pain aside from sharp sensitivity around the edges where the filling meets the tooth, am I likely to need a root canal? Can a filling be done on a tooth without all of its surrounding edges intact, so to speak? If not - what happens?
I don't really want the tooth removed, as said, aside from it being a problem tooth it's never been an issue until now (and presumably before I had the filling), and I have pretty severe "bite" problems so chewing has always been difficult for me. I also only have two molars on each bottom side, and only one premolar on each - I don't think tooth extraction is going to make eating any easier.
Will a crown be an option? Again, I've got a full set of veneers (all teeth bar molars), a bridge etc. Y'know, virtually everything you can have done! And whilst I like my smile (so much more confidence now), my teeth were so bad before this work that I am dreading the day my veneers give up - the less "original" teeth I have, the worse I feel.
Ugh, sorry, that's an awful lot of questions. I love my smile, but hate my teeth - they actually scare me and it seems no matter how much care I take, things seem to go wrong weekly. I'm also (naturally) horrified of dental work, after spending months getting my veneers sorted, with only a couple of valium and a job lot of local anaesthetic to get me through it - the water jet spray thing is probably the worst, I often feel as if I'm drowning and even the kindest most patient dentists I've seen have been noticeably frustrated at my involuntary thrashing when the panic attacks set in. It would ease my fear a little if I knew any work would be brief, or that the dentist wouldn't take the opportunity to tell me the thousands of others things I fear I'll need doing.
Sorry for the rambling, and thank you for any and all responses!
Edit: To clarify, it isn't sensitive to hot or cold but feels... sensitive. I've had an abscess and infections and it isn't the same sort of pain, there's some aching occasionally but not to the extent of those, so I don't think it's an infection (and certainly hope not), then again, I've had cavities before and they've never hurt so I'm really not sure. Can a previously covered-now-exposed amalgam filling cause pain? I also grind my teeth at night, and have never had a guard fitted properly.
I have an amalgam filling on one of my molars, it's around 15 years old (which I originally thought was pretty good going, but have since found out that's not brilliant) and was done on a tooth I honestly can't remember ever being a "complete" tooth - as soon as it came in, it seemed to start falling apart. So, there's more filling than tooth I think. Now though, there's sharp sensitive pain to the front of the tooth/filling, and I've inspected it a lot and think maybe a bit of the surrounding tooth might have chipped off somewhere along the line. I know I need it sorted, but I have no idea what is likely to happen...
The tooth has never caused me any pain aside from sharp sensitivity around the edges where the filling meets the tooth, am I likely to need a root canal? Can a filling be done on a tooth without all of its surrounding edges intact, so to speak? If not - what happens?
I don't really want the tooth removed, as said, aside from it being a problem tooth it's never been an issue until now (and presumably before I had the filling), and I have pretty severe "bite" problems so chewing has always been difficult for me. I also only have two molars on each bottom side, and only one premolar on each - I don't think tooth extraction is going to make eating any easier.
Will a crown be an option? Again, I've got a full set of veneers (all teeth bar molars), a bridge etc. Y'know, virtually everything you can have done! And whilst I like my smile (so much more confidence now), my teeth were so bad before this work that I am dreading the day my veneers give up - the less "original" teeth I have, the worse I feel.Ugh, sorry, that's an awful lot of questions. I love my smile, but hate my teeth - they actually scare me and it seems no matter how much care I take, things seem to go wrong weekly. I'm also (naturally) horrified of dental work, after spending months getting my veneers sorted, with only a couple of valium and a job lot of local anaesthetic to get me through it - the water jet spray thing is probably the worst, I often feel as if I'm drowning and even the kindest most patient dentists I've seen have been noticeably frustrated at my involuntary thrashing when the panic attacks set in. It would ease my fear a little if I knew any work would be brief, or that the dentist wouldn't take the opportunity to tell me the thousands of others things I fear I'll need doing.
Sorry for the rambling, and thank you for any and all responses!
Edit: To clarify, it isn't sensitive to hot or cold but feels... sensitive. I've had an abscess and infections and it isn't the same sort of pain, there's some aching occasionally but not to the extent of those, so I don't think it's an infection (and certainly hope not), then again, I've had cavities before and they've never hurt so I'm really not sure. Can a previously covered-now-exposed amalgam filling cause pain? I also grind my teeth at night, and have never had a guard fitted properly.
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