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Post-filling pain, but not the typical symptoms

  • Thread starter Thread starter Vanek26
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Vanek26

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Dec 24, 2013
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I had very painful experiences at the dentist as a child and always avoided going at all costs throughout high school and college. Finally, two years ago when I was 21, I started going again. My mouth was a bit of a mess and I had a bunch of cavities. Slowly but surely they all got filled and my last two fillings were finally to be done December 4th! There was one in each of my bottom right back two molars (not including my wisdom tooth). One of them was very deep and they had to remove some of my gum to fill it but the fillings went as usual. Pretty much pain free.

Over the next couple of days soreness lingered in the area and it didn't improve. It wasn't unbelievable pain but it was steady and constant. It would wake me up throughout the night... but again it was manageable. The thing is I don't really feel any pain when chewing at all. I went back to the dentist and they did a few tests by tapping on the tooth and I felt no pain. They tried just adjusting the bite to see if it helped.

The pain remained and I went back a week later. This time they did an x ray and marveled at just how deep the filling was. They decided to remove it and redo the filling to see if that helped. The dentist told me that because I don't have hot/cold sensitivity it's a good sign I don't need a root canal.

Here we are three weeks later and the discomfort is pretty much the same. The thing is, advil completely wipes out the pain. I mean, I'll take 2 pills and be totally pain free for 8 hours. But when it wears off the pain returns like clockwork. It's a very annoying middle ground because the pain is lingering, but it's not severe enough where I can't manage it. My dentist told me if I came back again we would do a root canal, but I don't want to have one done if it is unnecessary. On the other hand, I can't live forever taking advil every 8 hours.

What does this sound like to you? I see many similar stories but they usually involve excruciating pain and a dentist who confirms a root canal is needed after an xray. Mine is a more grey area.
 
Agreed, it is a good thing that you don't have any sensitivity to hot or cold. I'm not a dentist, but my experience with deep fillings is that they can take a LONG time to settle down. I've had one in particular that took months to stop being sensitive. It could simply be that your nerve in that tooth is just a bit irritated and needs time to heal after the filling, and now again after having it re-done.

What kind of pain is it? Is it pain when biting? Is it constant? Is it throbbing, or more like a dull ache?

I would hold off doing a root canal for awhile and see if it settles down some. As long as the pain is not getting any worse, I wouldn't be overly concerned.

Just my opinion though.
 
Thanks for the response!

The pain is at the point where I take two Advil at night and I am more or less pain free for 24 hours. But,
like clockwork, the next night the pain will creep back in and I can feel my gums start to puff out around the area. At it's worst, the whole bottom side of my mouth has an annoying pinching pain that keeps me from sleeping. But again, two Advil is all it takes to not just dull the pain, but eliminate it.

i can't take Advil forever though. I guess I will
continue to try and monitor this and just hope it mends itself.
 
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