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Post root canal anxiety

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Ctaylor16

Junior member
Joined
Jun 30, 2020
Messages
11
Location
United States
In the first week of May I had a root canal on tooth number 18 followed by an additional root canal in July on tooth number 30. Both have temporary fillings, however, the endo wants to wait on moving forward as I am still having lingering aching pain in both teeth. I have literally only been eating soup and mashed potatoes for over three months now and I’m exhausted, is it ok to do more solid foods or should I stick with what I’ve been doing. Also, is this completely abnormal for the recovery to be taking so long? I’ve been going to the endo monthly for follow up xrays and also for a CBCT scan on both which have shown successful treatments and no infection. I have Trigeminal Neuralgia and my neurologist believes this is neuropathic pain and might not necessarily go away for a while but the endo and my dentist want to just keep their eyes on it for now. Also, the first root canal has had the filling in for 12 weeks now and I’m wondering if I’m at high risk for this to fall out? Sorry for the long story I’m just extremely anxious and trust the care I’m in but it’s become very difficult for me to eat.
 
Hi Ctaylor16,

Sorry to hear you have had to endure this for so long. I am sure anyone would feel like you do in similar circumstances.
Normally, once the endo has signed off he root canal, your regular dentist would place a crown over the tooth to reduce the risk of it cracking. I guess because of the ongoing pain that they cannot explain, they are reluctant to place the crowns just yet in case they need to go back in and revise the root canal. Your history of trigeminal neuralgia is clearly mudding the waters further.
Most root canals do settle within a couple of weeks but it is not uncommon for the odd one to ache for weeks or even months and eventually settle. I don't think the filling will fall out, but the teeth are at a slightly higher risk of breaking. Perhaps have a chat with your dentist as ask him if he thinks it might be worth placing temporary crowns while you wait for them to settle. It may be that they do not need this, not all root filled teeth need crowns but worth asking if you are anxious about it. With temporary crowns should should be able to eat a wider range for food safely. After all that KFC bargain bucket is not going to eat itself!
Hope this helps

Lincoln
 
Hi Ctaylor16, sorry to hear you're having such a rough time ?. In addition to what Lincoln has said (he had to get KFC in there, didn't he ?), we've got a page here with soft food ideas in case you are interested:

 
Hi Ctaylor16, sorry to hear you're having such a rough time ?. In addition to what Lincoln has said (he had to get KFC in there, didn't he ?), we've got a page here with soft food ideas in case you are interested:

Thank you!!! :)
 
Hi Ctaylor16,

Sorry to hear you have had to endure this for so long. I am sure anyone would feel like you do in similar circumstances.
Normally, once the endo has signed off he root canal, your regular dentist would place a crown over the tooth to reduce the risk of it cracking. I guess because of the ongoing pain that they cannot explain, they are reluctant to place the crowns just yet in case they need to go back in and revise the root canal. Your history of trigeminal neuralgia is clearly mudding the waters further.
Most root canals do settle within a couple of weeks but it is not uncommon for the odd one to ache for weeks or even months and eventually settle. I don't think the filling will fall out, but the teeth are at a slightly higher risk of breaking. Perhaps have a chat with your dentist as ask him if he thinks it might be worth placing temporary crowns while you wait for them to settle. It may be that they do not need this, not all root filled teeth need crowns but worth asking if you are anxious about it. With temporary crowns should should be able to eat a wider range for food safely. After all that KFC bargain bucket is not going to eat itself!
Hope this helps

Lincoln
Thank you so much for putting my mind at ease! I will follow up with my dentist.
 
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