F
foreversleepy
Junior member
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2014
- Messages
- 6
Pregnant. Had two root canals in a week--terrified and in pain still. Hypochlorite accident??
Long long story her, but please bear with me. I have horrible teeth from years of bulimia. I have deep amalgam fillings in 2/3 of my teeth (all except the front 12 or so). I went to the dentist about a month and a half ago with pain in a premolar. Dentist said the filling was cracked, drilled it out, and replaced it with another amalgam. He said it was textbook and there was no new decay and I should be fine. When I got home the pain was immediately EXCRUCIATING. It was horrible. I had to take a percocet to even take a little bit of the edge off, but I figured I would let the tooth "calm down." About a month later (Tuesday the 19th) I went back in and he said the tooth was dying and required a root canal. So I went with it and did it then and there.
Here is where it gets horrible for me. Even before the numbing fully wore off, I was in excruciating pain with the tooth. I figured it was probably normal and took a percocet like he told me to (this dentist for some reason cannot prescribe narcotics, so he said if I had them, take them, otherwise stick to tylenol since I am pregnant and can't take motrin). He called that night to see how I was doing and to give me his home and cell numbers in case of emergency. The pain was increasing and by Friday (8/22) I was back in his office. (Now is a good time to add that on Thursday I started getting pain in a top right molar.) He took the temp filling out, looked at the tooth to see if there was pus/fluid/whatever that needed draining and said it looked dry as a bone and couldn't be more perfect. He said the pain was probably from the ligaments being irritated from the procedure and my inability to take motrin was probably exacerbating the condition--give it time and it will probably get better. Well, by the next Tuesday (8/26) the top right molar had really started to throb and I went back to him to see if maybe it was just a fluke. He did an xray and said it looked like there was a small abscess at the apex and he tapped the tooth and it HURT. (However I felt no hot cold sensitivty in the tooth.) So he asked if I wanted to RC or extract and I opted to save the tooth. Well now.. this tooth, as soon as he drilled into it it started to feel better. It's now just getting the same achiness at the other tooth that was root canal but the first RCT tooth STILL HURTS.
It is 9 days later and I am miserable! I am NOT supposed to take motrin and I have been on occasion just to get some sort of relief (remember, I am 22 weeks prengant!!!!) and I have been driven to this! I am also taking Percocet and Tylenol. I feel horrible for my baby--but the pain is awful! I just want relief! I am going back in tomorrow and he is going to open it up again to take a look. I'd like to add that these aren't finished root canals. I still have yet to go back for the second treatments to have them filled I believe. Right now there is just some sort of filling in there. I should add that the fillings that were initially in these teeth were LARGE and he has basically taken both teeth down to them gum completely so they definitely are not in my bite.They are not sensitive to hot or cold (actually, ice water makes it feel nice) and the only thing that will give pain is my putting pressure (even the slightest) on them, and at that the top one is still exponentially better than the bottom. Am I being a nervous nelly and worry wart and just irritating the ligaments by pushing down? Can something else be wrong? I'm tired of worrying about this, it is making me an absolute basket case and really ruining me. I can't sleep and can't focus on anything but my teeth unless I take pain meds! (Tylenol, motrin or percocet or a combination of the two.) I should ALSO add that he DID NOT put me on antibiotics at any point and I've kind of hinted but he said as long as there is no swelling or pimple it isn't necessary.
I've Made an appointment with another dentist for Tuesday to get a second opinion but I'm not sure if a specialist is required at this point--my dentist doesn't seem to think so. I am tired of taking pain medication to get by--I have a 3 year old and a baby on the way! It's not right!!
Advice please.. I want to add that this pain reminds me of when I had a tooth pulled and got partial dry socket. I almost wonder if my extreme anxiety is causing a lot of my pain.
Edit to add: I know this was a long read but during the procedure (both times) I felt when he injected the bleach. It burned up and down my neck for about 5 minutes I just found this:
Hypochlorite accident. During root canal treatment, the tooth roots are washed with a dilute bleach solution (also called sodium hypochlorite). This is the normal "standard of treatment", and has the following benefits;It kills most bacteria inside the tooth.
It dissolves any remaining tags of nerve tissue inside the tooth.
It washes away the slurry that builds up during root canal treatment.
But sometimes (rarely) some bleach solution can escape out of the root tip. Normally, this causes immediate extreme pain, even with the area numb. The dentist will normally flush the tooth out with distilled water, dress it, and prescribe antibiotics and painkillers. But the area will still be painful for some weeks.
When I tried to find more information on it it all sounded extremely severe. I never had swelling or bleeding, but I do have prolonged pain. Is this something that is a possibility of cause of pain? Should I be contacting someone or goign to the ER immediately even if I don't have swelling? Please help!!!!
Long long story her, but please bear with me. I have horrible teeth from years of bulimia. I have deep amalgam fillings in 2/3 of my teeth (all except the front 12 or so). I went to the dentist about a month and a half ago with pain in a premolar. Dentist said the filling was cracked, drilled it out, and replaced it with another amalgam. He said it was textbook and there was no new decay and I should be fine. When I got home the pain was immediately EXCRUCIATING. It was horrible. I had to take a percocet to even take a little bit of the edge off, but I figured I would let the tooth "calm down." About a month later (Tuesday the 19th) I went back in and he said the tooth was dying and required a root canal. So I went with it and did it then and there.
Here is where it gets horrible for me. Even before the numbing fully wore off, I was in excruciating pain with the tooth. I figured it was probably normal and took a percocet like he told me to (this dentist for some reason cannot prescribe narcotics, so he said if I had them, take them, otherwise stick to tylenol since I am pregnant and can't take motrin). He called that night to see how I was doing and to give me his home and cell numbers in case of emergency. The pain was increasing and by Friday (8/22) I was back in his office. (Now is a good time to add that on Thursday I started getting pain in a top right molar.) He took the temp filling out, looked at the tooth to see if there was pus/fluid/whatever that needed draining and said it looked dry as a bone and couldn't be more perfect. He said the pain was probably from the ligaments being irritated from the procedure and my inability to take motrin was probably exacerbating the condition--give it time and it will probably get better. Well, by the next Tuesday (8/26) the top right molar had really started to throb and I went back to him to see if maybe it was just a fluke. He did an xray and said it looked like there was a small abscess at the apex and he tapped the tooth and it HURT. (However I felt no hot cold sensitivty in the tooth.) So he asked if I wanted to RC or extract and I opted to save the tooth. Well now.. this tooth, as soon as he drilled into it it started to feel better. It's now just getting the same achiness at the other tooth that was root canal but the first RCT tooth STILL HURTS.
It is 9 days later and I am miserable! I am NOT supposed to take motrin and I have been on occasion just to get some sort of relief (remember, I am 22 weeks prengant!!!!) and I have been driven to this! I am also taking Percocet and Tylenol. I feel horrible for my baby--but the pain is awful! I just want relief! I am going back in tomorrow and he is going to open it up again to take a look. I'd like to add that these aren't finished root canals. I still have yet to go back for the second treatments to have them filled I believe. Right now there is just some sort of filling in there. I should add that the fillings that were initially in these teeth were LARGE and he has basically taken both teeth down to them gum completely so they definitely are not in my bite.They are not sensitive to hot or cold (actually, ice water makes it feel nice) and the only thing that will give pain is my putting pressure (even the slightest) on them, and at that the top one is still exponentially better than the bottom. Am I being a nervous nelly and worry wart and just irritating the ligaments by pushing down? Can something else be wrong? I'm tired of worrying about this, it is making me an absolute basket case and really ruining me. I can't sleep and can't focus on anything but my teeth unless I take pain meds! (Tylenol, motrin or percocet or a combination of the two.) I should ALSO add that he DID NOT put me on antibiotics at any point and I've kind of hinted but he said as long as there is no swelling or pimple it isn't necessary.
I've Made an appointment with another dentist for Tuesday to get a second opinion but I'm not sure if a specialist is required at this point--my dentist doesn't seem to think so. I am tired of taking pain medication to get by--I have a 3 year old and a baby on the way! It's not right!!
Advice please.. I want to add that this pain reminds me of when I had a tooth pulled and got partial dry socket. I almost wonder if my extreme anxiety is causing a lot of my pain.
Edit to add: I know this was a long read but during the procedure (both times) I felt when he injected the bleach. It burned up and down my neck for about 5 minutes I just found this:
Hypochlorite accident. During root canal treatment, the tooth roots are washed with a dilute bleach solution (also called sodium hypochlorite). This is the normal "standard of treatment", and has the following benefits;It kills most bacteria inside the tooth.
It dissolves any remaining tags of nerve tissue inside the tooth.
It washes away the slurry that builds up during root canal treatment.
But sometimes (rarely) some bleach solution can escape out of the root tip. Normally, this causes immediate extreme pain, even with the area numb. The dentist will normally flush the tooth out with distilled water, dress it, and prescribe antibiotics and painkillers. But the area will still be painful for some weeks.
When I tried to find more information on it it all sounded extremely severe. I never had swelling or bleeding, but I do have prolonged pain. Is this something that is a possibility of cause of pain? Should I be contacting someone or goign to the ER immediately even if I don't have swelling? Please help!!!!
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