Judythecat
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2018
- Messages
- 631
Hi everyone,
I've been lurking about this site for almost a year now. I'm going to summarise where I've gone, and where I'm going in this post, then add to it.
I've always gone to the dentist for six monthly checks, no issues/treatment for ten years or so. I'm a nervous patient, but am more scared of injections than dental treatment or the dentist.
February 2017 - checkup and scale and polish. All good.
April 2017 - I bit into a croissant, and a huge filling in my lower left molar cracked. The bulk of it was gone. I rang the dentist and got an appointment the next day. She rebuilt the filling, which was most of the tooth, and said to come back if there were any problems.
May 2017 - I had toothache on my upper left back teeth, and it transpired the wisdom tooth was infected. So that was whipped out. I hate the needle, but it was fine.
June 2017 - that bottom tooth started hurting again. And so did the matching one on the right, and the one above on the right. The dentist suggested I was grinding my teeth, and that I could have a mouth-guard made. I realised that actually, I was clenching, not grinding - no idea why I didn't click before. So that would account for the broken filling. The tooth with the huge filling needed a root canal, but she said the right hand side teeth were fine. I had the root canal done at the end of the month, but the dentist couldn't find all the canals. I opted to go ahead, but this was a mistake.
July 2017 - after weeks of toothache, and referred pain, lower left molar is extracted. It was a difficult extraction and the tooth had to be surgically removed. The right hand teeth still hurt. I got a mouth-guard made by the dentist.
August 2017 - the right upper and lower teeth still hurt, but the dentist says there's nothing up with them. She took out the fillings and re-did them. They carried on hurting.
October 2017 - I saw a different dentist in the surgery because my own dentist was on holiday. He said I needed a root canal on the bottom tooth, and that once that was done, the upper one should settle.
November 2017 - root canal on bottom tooth. This took FOREVER to settle. The upper tooth remained painful.
December 2017 - the dentist removed the filling on the top tooth and re-did it. Over Christmas I had terrible toothache. She said we could do a root canal on the upper tooth, but was concerned I might need referred out to a specialist because the tooth's roots were very twisty. I opted to go straight to the specialist.
January 2018 - consultation with the endodontist. I was super-nervous about seeing someone new, but he was lovely. However as well as the root canal, he spotted a problem with the neighbouring tooth, which had had RCT years before - even I could see from the x-ray that one canal was empty. So, we scheduled in a root canal and a re-treatment. Total cost, just shy of £2,000, then crowns still to come after that.
February/March 2018 - endodontic work is done in four separate sessions, and all seems to have gone okay.
Now - I need to go back for a review and final x-rays with the endodontist, then schedule in crowns. In the meantime, my front upper teeth are sore, but my dentist says that's just from clenching, and that nothing is actually wrong with them - the endo agreed with this. I am absolutely, completely, 100% obsessed with my teeth now, and feel like all the months of pain and worry have really impacted my mental health. I'm due to see my own dentist for a checkup and S&P next week, then hopefully she will do the crowns over the next month or so.
I've been lurking about this site for almost a year now. I'm going to summarise where I've gone, and where I'm going in this post, then add to it.
I've always gone to the dentist for six monthly checks, no issues/treatment for ten years or so. I'm a nervous patient, but am more scared of injections than dental treatment or the dentist.
February 2017 - checkup and scale and polish. All good.
April 2017 - I bit into a croissant, and a huge filling in my lower left molar cracked. The bulk of it was gone. I rang the dentist and got an appointment the next day. She rebuilt the filling, which was most of the tooth, and said to come back if there were any problems.
May 2017 - I had toothache on my upper left back teeth, and it transpired the wisdom tooth was infected. So that was whipped out. I hate the needle, but it was fine.
June 2017 - that bottom tooth started hurting again. And so did the matching one on the right, and the one above on the right. The dentist suggested I was grinding my teeth, and that I could have a mouth-guard made. I realised that actually, I was clenching, not grinding - no idea why I didn't click before. So that would account for the broken filling. The tooth with the huge filling needed a root canal, but she said the right hand side teeth were fine. I had the root canal done at the end of the month, but the dentist couldn't find all the canals. I opted to go ahead, but this was a mistake.
July 2017 - after weeks of toothache, and referred pain, lower left molar is extracted. It was a difficult extraction and the tooth had to be surgically removed. The right hand teeth still hurt. I got a mouth-guard made by the dentist.
August 2017 - the right upper and lower teeth still hurt, but the dentist says there's nothing up with them. She took out the fillings and re-did them. They carried on hurting.
October 2017 - I saw a different dentist in the surgery because my own dentist was on holiday. He said I needed a root canal on the bottom tooth, and that once that was done, the upper one should settle.
November 2017 - root canal on bottom tooth. This took FOREVER to settle. The upper tooth remained painful.
December 2017 - the dentist removed the filling on the top tooth and re-did it. Over Christmas I had terrible toothache. She said we could do a root canal on the upper tooth, but was concerned I might need referred out to a specialist because the tooth's roots were very twisty. I opted to go straight to the specialist.
January 2018 - consultation with the endodontist. I was super-nervous about seeing someone new, but he was lovely. However as well as the root canal, he spotted a problem with the neighbouring tooth, which had had RCT years before - even I could see from the x-ray that one canal was empty. So, we scheduled in a root canal and a re-treatment. Total cost, just shy of £2,000, then crowns still to come after that.
February/March 2018 - endodontic work is done in four separate sessions, and all seems to have gone okay.
Now - I need to go back for a review and final x-rays with the endodontist, then schedule in crowns. In the meantime, my front upper teeth are sore, but my dentist says that's just from clenching, and that nothing is actually wrong with them - the endo agreed with this. I am absolutely, completely, 100% obsessed with my teeth now, and feel like all the months of pain and worry have really impacted my mental health. I'm due to see my own dentist for a checkup and S&P next week, then hopefully she will do the crowns over the next month or so.