Should I still be getting this pain?

[Gwhizz]

Hi, I'm hoping that someone can help me. I don't have a fear of the dentist, despite some major work having been carried out in recent years. However, about 5 months ago I went to my dentist as I was getting cold sensitivity around my very back tooth on the top lefthand side. An old filling had cracked and some infection had set in. I got antibiotics for a week and went back. He took out some of the filling, put a dressing on it and a temporary dressing as he wasn't happy the infection had cleared up. The tooth was great, really settled down, I was able to chew food on that side of my mouth for the first time in about a year. I went back again, about 3 months ago now, to find my dentist had retired and a new, young dentist had taken over. He injected right at the back on the left, took out the temporary filling, drilled out the old filling and refilled it. He said it would take a couple of weeks to settle down as he'd had to drill quite deep. Since then the tooth has been terrible, really sensitive to cold and sometimes hot (to the point that during my last visit when I was getting the other side worked on, I couldn't even bear the dribble sucker thing drawing air over my tooth). More than that though is the pain I've been getting up into the top of my ear, down my neck on the left and across the bottom side of my cheekbone and up into my eye socket and nose. I even went to my doctor because of the daily headaches I've been getting, thinking that it was something to do with my sinuses, but the treatment I got hasn't really helped at all. Please give me some advice. The dentist didn't seem to be perturbed that I was getting pain from that tooth with the cold air and told me to rub Sensodyne toothpaste in around the tooth and gum (which hasn't helped either). Help!

 

[Gordon]

Was it an alloy filling or a white composite one?

 

[Gwhizz]

Hi Gordon. Thankyou for getting back so quickly. I'm assuming that it was an alloy as there virtually no sign of anything white back there, including tooth.

 

[Gwhizz]

Hello all. I'm still hoping that someone can help or suggest what I should do next. The pain I'm getting from this tooth isn't what I'd call excruciating but I've had a headache now for 3 months and the tooth is the only thing I can think of that is causing it. Should I ask my dentist to have another look at it? My friend reckons I should get him to remove the root, but keep the tooth. I have to do something, it's really nagging away.

 

[Gordon]

You need to go back and get the dentist to check if the nerve in the tooth is still healthy or not. Depending on the result of that you can decide what to do next.

 

[Gwhizz]

Hello all. Quick update - I ended up having to get an emergency appointment with my dentist yesterday as the pains in my face were getting worse and worse. He x-rayed the tooth and said that it had started to abcess very deep in the root and that the infection had probably not cleared up fully since May. So I'm back on antibiotics and he said that my only course of action for the tooth is either extraction or 'root' work which I assume is killing off the nerve in the tooth to stop any future pain. It might wait for a couple of months though. Fingers crossed.