C
Cedar
Junior member
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2024
- Messages
- 2
- Location
- Usa
I've had one dental problem after another since a year ago September, and this forum has been very helpful to me many times. Thank you. I am once again stumped what to do next though, as it just seems impossible to fix my teeth. Everything started with the first of four largish fillings in each of my back most molars last September (the first was actually a crown prep and they took forever and had a hard time). Each back molar had a big root cavity, and as each one was done (teeth were all painless going into this, btw), it would start having tooth ache within a few days. The two bottom ones I eventually had root canaled, one in April, just a few weeks after the filling was placed, and one in June, a month or two after, and with that particular tooth giving me pain all over my face and jaw. Both root canals done by endodontists and with CBT scans done first, and neither of them showed any signs of infection on xray, no abcesses or anything. I saw two different endodontists.
My first root canal (which I also got trismus with), felt otherwise okay-ish for a few weeks, and then gradually became increasingly pressure sensitive. The second one felt really good afterward, but about a month after, it started in with the pressure sensitivitity. I had lots of very careful bite adjustments from my dentist during this time, and a mouthguard made which I went back and had adjusted as well. I have no spontaneous toothache and no temperature sensitivity, just very acute pressure sensitivity--just tightening my cheek muscles can make those two bottom molars hurt where my cheeks press against them. When I had just one of the root canals done and could eat on one side, it was fine, but now that I can't avoid the sore side, I can tell that eating makes it worse even though I try hard to chew only on my forward teeth. Lately it is just getting worse.
I'm not sure what do even do next. I have had two root canals before this in my life, well over ten years ago. One was okay, the other was redone twice before pulling the tooth and getting an implant. That one was also pressure sensitivity only, but it wasn't as bad as this one and I lived with it for a couple years just not chewing on it before finally having it pulled. I feel like my teeth just done take to root canals somehow. This has all been so expensive (US) and I wanted to wait until my benefits reset in January, but the last week it's seeming like that might not be reasonable. Eating is just increasingly unpleasant. I just don't feel like redoing the root canals is going to help somehow.
Two potentially relevant things: when my original dentist first filled these back molars about 5 years ago, he said they were very tricky as they were at the gumline right where the roots divide and he said at that time that it was possible they would fail and I might have to decide about pulling them. He has since retired and I have seen two dentists since, both of whom thought that was a crazy idea.(I considered having them pulled rather than going down the whole root canal road in the first place). The second thing is that the first tooth I had done, the upper left back molar, took forever to settle down afterward and I had tooth ache on and off and thought it would need a root canal. It finally got better though and I had the permanent crown placed once it was mostly better, and it just kept improving and by about 9 months out it feels fine. It still has some temperature sensation, so I don't think it died.
Oh, sorry, third thing is that ever since that first molar filling, my bite is just never the same. It constantly changes which teeth are touching, so I'll go in for bite adjustment and it might feel great when i leave, but later I have just two teeth hitting hard (like right now, if I close I am ONLY touching on 14 and 19, everything else is open--that happens a lot and the dentist has many times adjusted until my other teeth are touching and somehow everything shifts thorughout the day.
What would your next step be?
PS--the one thing about having had so many dental problems over the past year is that I have been forced to have a whole lot of exposure therapy, and I'm no longer super scared before dental appointments. I switched dentists after the first filling to one that specializes in anxious patients, and that helped a lot and I became comfortable with him (and now of course he just announced retirement
My first root canal (which I also got trismus with), felt otherwise okay-ish for a few weeks, and then gradually became increasingly pressure sensitive. The second one felt really good afterward, but about a month after, it started in with the pressure sensitivitity. I had lots of very careful bite adjustments from my dentist during this time, and a mouthguard made which I went back and had adjusted as well. I have no spontaneous toothache and no temperature sensitivity, just very acute pressure sensitivity--just tightening my cheek muscles can make those two bottom molars hurt where my cheeks press against them. When I had just one of the root canals done and could eat on one side, it was fine, but now that I can't avoid the sore side, I can tell that eating makes it worse even though I try hard to chew only on my forward teeth. Lately it is just getting worse.
I'm not sure what do even do next. I have had two root canals before this in my life, well over ten years ago. One was okay, the other was redone twice before pulling the tooth and getting an implant. That one was also pressure sensitivity only, but it wasn't as bad as this one and I lived with it for a couple years just not chewing on it before finally having it pulled. I feel like my teeth just done take to root canals somehow. This has all been so expensive (US) and I wanted to wait until my benefits reset in January, but the last week it's seeming like that might not be reasonable. Eating is just increasingly unpleasant. I just don't feel like redoing the root canals is going to help somehow.
Two potentially relevant things: when my original dentist first filled these back molars about 5 years ago, he said they were very tricky as they were at the gumline right where the roots divide and he said at that time that it was possible they would fail and I might have to decide about pulling them. He has since retired and I have seen two dentists since, both of whom thought that was a crazy idea.(I considered having them pulled rather than going down the whole root canal road in the first place). The second thing is that the first tooth I had done, the upper left back molar, took forever to settle down afterward and I had tooth ache on and off and thought it would need a root canal. It finally got better though and I had the permanent crown placed once it was mostly better, and it just kept improving and by about 9 months out it feels fine. It still has some temperature sensation, so I don't think it died.
Oh, sorry, third thing is that ever since that first molar filling, my bite is just never the same. It constantly changes which teeth are touching, so I'll go in for bite adjustment and it might feel great when i leave, but later I have just two teeth hitting hard (like right now, if I close I am ONLY touching on 14 and 19, everything else is open--that happens a lot and the dentist has many times adjusted until my other teeth are touching and somehow everything shifts thorughout the day.
What would your next step be?
PS--the one thing about having had so many dental problems over the past year is that I have been forced to have a whole lot of exposure therapy, and I'm no longer super scared before dental appointments. I switched dentists after the first filling to one that specializes in anxious patients, and that helped a lot and I became comfortable with him (and now of course he just announced retirement
