Post Root Canal 1 month and still not adjusted

[scheibe]

I have had a root canal on #19 tooth lower left molar, on June 4th, which has given me grief since April, whereby I decided on a RC without much research. On April 25th they did a crown on # 14 very successful no problems, but literally walking out the dentist door, the lower bottom 19th flared up and has never been the same hence RC on JUne 4th

I have been to see the endodontist twice plus another one to have it looked at. The sensitivity tests and tapping etc. and Xrays all look good. They claim it was a successful RC and there is no sign of infection whatsoever.

The dull nagging mild pain does not go away and I need to pretty much live on ibuprofen. Its actually getting to me mentally now as its been 2 1/2 months total with tooth pain.
WHAT DO I DO? I am
at the point where I want to have it extracted, I don't really care anymore. The endos and the dentist will not do the permanent restoration (its a crown - old) until its settled down completely.
How long does a patient wait? Im 49, and my gut tells me that this root canal isn't working nor will it ever work out. The endo says that its inflamed and that I need to wait it out. I know that it has to be more than that.
HELP HELP...Im so frustrated really.
Thank you.

 

[Steve In Cleveland]

Hi sheibe, so sorry to hear you're having such trouble.

I had a similar experience with #2 and #31 on the other side of my mouth-- the relevant fact being that these were also opposing teeth. They both gave me quite a bit of trouble for a couple of months after the root canals. I was also at the point where I was ready to just demand to have one or both of them extracted. I'm glad I didn't.

The teeth did eventually "settle down" and now they have permanent crowns and feel normal-- no pain. But it did take a while.

A few things that I found, which may or may not help:

• Because of having multiple teeth worked on, and teeth that opposed each other, my dentist and I had a hell of a time getting the bite right. It always felt high to me, which was exacerbated by the sensitivity of the tooth. Because of this I went back several times to have the bite adjusted, trying to keep these two from contacting each other at all.
• I'm still not entirely sure which tooth was hurting during the ordeal. Most of the time I was sure it was the bottom tooth, #31, but eventually that one settled down and #2 got to hurting.
• Eventually it became clear that #2 was really hurting a lot. This was weird because, again, #31 was the sensitive tooth most of the time. My dentist couldn't detect anything wrong with #2, but she redid the root canal, and it fixed everything. She says she didn't find anything during the second root canal-- no ancillary canals or signs of infection. But there must have been something hanging out in there, because this new root canal did the trick.

In the end, I think #31 just took a couple of months to really settle down, and was made worse by my chewing and setting my mouth differently to avoid the pain. Kind of like having a stubbed toe-- once it gets swollen it feels like it's even bigger and easier to hit again.

As I said, I'm really glad I waited it out and didn't lose any teeth over it (just lost lots of sleep). But it wasn't much fun waiting that tooth out. I'd also point out that although #2 needed to be reinstrumented, #31 eventually just stopped hurting on its own.

Given that you've seen two different endos, I'd say you should probably still give it some more time to settle down, and you may still be able to keep it. But I'd also stay on top of your endodontist, make sure the bite is really really minimal or has no contact at all, and also consider asking to have the root canal redone before giving up.

I can't give you a solid timeframe, unfortunately. For me, it was probably about two months before #31 calmed down, and then a couple more weeks of #2 acting up before the second root canal cleared everything up.

Good luck... it's a crappy situation to be in, I know.

 

[chickenjen]

Hi, scheibe
Just chiming in about the root canal and subsequent crowning.
I had a root canal done last May on a lower front tooth (I don't know the numbers). It had given me grief for 9 months and countless dental visits for the dentist to check the tooth out.
At my last dentist visit a few weeks ago, my dentist declared my tooth to be fully healed (only a year and one month later), but given how LONG it took to heal, he said he won't crown it until my next visit in December (he just wants to make sure it's healed).
Maybe you can ask your dentist what would be the most effective pain-reliever you can take for the pain. My dentist recommended ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin or Nuprin) because it also helps with inflammation ........but your dentist may recommend something else.
For me, extracting the lower front tooth was really a LAST resort..........because that tooth is so noticeable, so I was resolved to put up with pain in the hopes that the tooth would settle down.
Here's hoping your tooth will settle soon!!!
's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!