Two Weeks After Root Canal: Some Cold Sensitivity, Gum Twinges (Soreness), and Percussion Sensivity

[Teeth]

Two Weeks After Root Canal: Some Cold Sensitivity, Gum Twinges (Soreness), and Percussion Sensivity

Hi everyone!

New to the forums but so grateful for this resource!

Just got my first root canal treatment done recently. Had a deep filling that had been bothering me for months in tooth no. 20 before it finally manifested itself in a throbbing toothache, something I'd never experienced before (and hope to never experience again!) So far, I've had two steps completed in the RCT process: I had a pulpectomy about a month ago, and two weeks following that, I had the root canal cleaned and filled with gutta percha and topped with a temporary filling.

Just recently (about two weeks after the root canal was completed), I noticed that I was feeling a twinge in the tooth that had the root canal when I swished cold water around in my mouth. (I hadn't really noticed before, since I've been chewing - and to some extent, drinking - exclusively on the other side of my mouth). I have also noticed some twinges of slight soreness in my gum area around the treated tooth.

As far as I can tell, these symptoms have manifested themselves recently, just within the last few days. However, my treated tooth has been sensitive to percussion ever since the procedure was completed. This sensitivity hasn't gotten worse or better, it's just been kind of consistent throughout.

Since the severity of my symptoms is relatively low, I'm not sure what's going on. I'm seeing the dentist tomorrow but was hoping someone here might be able to offer some additional insight. Obviously, my internet research has yielded a number of theories, but I also have one of my own. Do you think that perhaps the temporary filling was simply a little bit too high? Now that I'm thinking about it, I do notice that my bite is a little bit off from normal, but it's nothing crazy. Can a slightly uneven bite as a result of a high temporary filling result in the twinges of pain in my gums, the continued sensitivity to percussion of the treated tooth, and cold sensitivity (potentially in the tooth adjacent to the treated tooth)?

Thanks in advance for your help! This forum is really wonderful, such a resource and comfort!

 

[Arzoo Nasiry]

Re: Two Weeks After Root Canal: Some Cold Sensitivity, Gum Twinges (Soreness), and Percussion Sensiv

Root canals have a high success rate but occasionally they fail. You are correct that if the filling is high that could be contributing to your symptoms. Sometimes when we are numb we bite differently than when we are not numb. When your bite was checked at your appointment you may have given a false reading because of your numbness. This is a very easy problem to remedy by adjusting the bite. It may take a few days for the soreness to go away though.

I hope this helps.

 

[Teeth]

Re: Two Weeks After Root Canal: Some Cold Sensitivity, Gum Twinges (Soreness), and Percussion Sensiv

Thanks for the quick reply, Arzoo!

The cold sensitivity is what's been freaking me out, seeing as RCT is supposed to remove all of those nerves! I do recognize that it's hard to tell exactly which tooth is sensitive to cold, so it could very well be an adjacent tooth (which, at this point, I'm rather hoping it is - seeing as I'd obvs rather not have to go through yet another RCT, much less pay for one!).

Seeing the dentist today, so fingers crossed this isn't something too serious.

(What I wouldn't give for healthy, strong teeth!)

 

[Teeth]

Re: Two Weeks After Root Canal: Some Cold Sensitivity, Gum Twinges (Soreness), and Percussion Sensiv

Just wanted a post an update after seeing the dentist today. (Thought it might be potentially helpful to anyone who might experience something similar and figured I'd post up what I just learned about my teeth!)

Broken down by symptom:

1. Cold sensitivity
The dentist tested the tooth that had received the root canal treatment as well as the two adjacent ones for cold sensitivity. Interestingly, the results weren't terribly conclusive, except that the RCT tooth was not sensitive to cold (huzzah!). There was some sensitivity in tooth number 19, but nothing conclusive.

2. Gum Twinges/Soreness
Looking at the gum area, the dentist said he didn't see any signs of a problem and that things looked pretty normal.

3. Percussion Sensitivity
When I asked my dentist about the continued sensitivity to percussion/tapping on the RCT tooth, he said that for some patients, the healing process just takes awhile. As long as it isn't getting worse, it should slowly get better over time. He told me he's had some patients take as long as six months before the tooth finally felt "normal".

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, the dentist recommended taking an x-ray of the area to get a better look, and that's where we got a better idea of what was going on. Root canal looked great - didn't seem to be any infection or anything out of the ordinary on the x-ray. However, my dentist pointed out that the gums by tooth 19 (between 19 and 20) were a little more separated from the tooth than my other teeth. He said it could be the result of my grinding my teeth and also said it could have to do with my bite.

We did a bite test and definitely saw that tooth 19 was taking most of the hit when I bit down, etc. So he shaved it down very, very slightly to see if that might alleviate some of the symptoms. I did asked him about the temporary filling and if that was affecting my bite, but he said that he didn't see that to be the case based on the bite test. More likely, the culprit is my grinding my teeth.

I asked if grinding your teeth can produce the cold sensitivity and gum soreness, and the dentist confirmed that was the case. In fact, he added that he's seen grinding teeth as the culprit behind a great number and variety of dental ailments. (Sigh...)

In any case, sorry for the lengthy summary - but hope it might be of help to someone out there!

 

[Nitam80]

Re: Two Weeks After Root Canal: Some Cold Sensitivity, Gum Twinges (Soreness), and Percussion Sensiv

Just wanted a post an update after seeing the dentist today. (Thought it might be potentially helpful to anyone who might experience something similar and figured I'd post up what I just learned about my teeth!)

Broken down by symptom:

1. Cold sensitivity
The dentist tested the tooth that had received the root canal treatment as well as the two adjacent ones for cold sensitivity. Interestingly, the results weren't terribly conclusive, except that the RCT tooth was not sensitive to cold (huzzah!). There was some sensitivity in tooth number 19, but nothing conclusive.

2. Gum Twinges/Soreness
Looking at the gum area, the dentist said he didn't see any signs of a problem and that things looked pretty normal.

3. Percussion Sensitivity
When I asked my dentist about the continued sensitivity to percussion/tapping on the RCT tooth, he said that for some patients, the healing process just takes awhile. As long as it isn't getting worse, it should slowly get better over time. He told me he's had some patients take as long as six months before the tooth finally felt "normal".

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, the dentist recommended taking an x-ray of the area to get a better look, and that's where we got a better idea of what was going on. Root canal looked great - didn't seem to be any infection or anything out of the ordinary on the x-ray. However, my dentist pointed out that the gums by tooth 19 (between 19 and 20) were a little more separated from the tooth than my other teeth. He said it could be the result of my grinding my teeth and also said it could have to do with my bite.

We did a bite test and definitely saw that tooth 19 was taking most of the hit when I bit down, etc. So he shaved it down very, very slightly to see if that might alleviate some of the symptoms. I did asked him about the temporary filling and if that was affecting my bite, but he said that he didn't see that to be the case based on the bite test. More likely, the culprit is my grinding my teeth.

I asked if grinding your teeth can produce the cold sensitivity and gum soreness, and the dentist confirmed that was the case. In fact, he added that he's seen grinding teeth as the culprit behind a great number and variety of dental ailments. (Sigh...)

In any case, sorry for the lengthy summary - but hope it might be of help to someone out there!

Thank you for your post and update! I'm going though a similar experience. After receiving my temporary filling (second step of the root canal therapy) about 4 days ago, I also have twinges and percussion sensitivity. I know the procedure was fairly recent. So it may take some time. I plan to reach out to the dentist on Monday to be sure. But your feedback helps give me some peace of mind that percussion sensitivity can be normal. And also I know what better questions to ask.

It's my first root canal and recovery took long after the first stage as well. Seems this tooth is particularly temperamental. I hope there are no surprises!