What did the dentist do to my teeth?

[paulwest]

I'm a young adult with no history of teeth or jaw problems. I recently presented myself at a new dentist for a check-up, my first in a few years. At the appointment, I mentioned in passing that I was experiencing sensitivity in my lower molars when eating certain foods. The dentist didn't seem to be very proficient in the English language, and I fear he totally misunderstood what I was saying, because he proceeded to grind down my upper molars with some kind of electic tool. Since then my teeth have felt very odd, quite wrong, almost like my back teeth are missing; and I'm now aware of my side teeth (pre-molars?) clashing together quite hard, and my jaw being forced slightly forward when I bite - none of which happened before - I just felt some sensitivity in my teeth, that's all.

At the check-up a cavity was found in the lower back molar, which I had filled the following week. Soon afterwards, I noticed a popping sound in my ear when eating, which gradually became louder over the next few days. I went back to the dentist, and he said the filling was a bit proud, so he filed it down. But the ear-popping remained, developing into an occasional jaw cracking on the same side that the filling was placed.

I presented myself again, to explain about this jaw cracking, and he started talking about me needing a special (and rather costly) appliance to wear at night. Trying to explain what it was about, he placed a thin piece of foam tube on each side of my mouth, which he told me to bite on. He seemed to be suggesting that a wider jaw position should feel better. I couldn't really tell if it felt better or not; I couldn't really understand what it was all about. I was just sitting there thinking, "Well, that's roughly how my jaw felt before you ground my back teeth down..."

This whole thing has upset me 'cause I've never had any problems with the teeth before - all this has started since going to the dentist.
Obviously I tried asking the dentist for information but his low-level English seems to obstruct the provision of comprehensive infomation for his patients.

Would anyone care to speculate as to what he did to my teeth initially, and why I'm now feeling my front/side teeth clashing together? And also why I developed this issue in my ear/jaw after I had this filling - even though the dentist says there is now no problem with the filling?

Thank you very much for your time.

 

[sudzs]

Hi paulwest! I'm not a dentist and no idea why yours filed down your teeth but it does sound that in doing so your bite was altered. And that probably upset the balance of your TMJ (temperomandibular joint, the complex joint where your lower jaw is attatched to your upper jaw) causing the clicking and cracking.

I've had a similar problem myself from having 2 oversized crowns which upset my bite but months later I have it under control. And like you , never had any such problems before with my jaw. But if you get your bite sorted and check out some exercises or therapy if you feel it's required (heard The Bowen Technique is marvelous for TMJ probs) then hopefully you'll be grand again! I think the sooner it's sorted the quicker the TMJ recovers.

Good luck with it!

 

[paulwest]

Thanks for your reply. I did do some research concerning all this, and it does make sense what you are saying. Plus, the symptoms of TMJ problems explain the mild headaches and other low-level yet persistant visual, audio and balance issues I've experienced for a number of years, and had always put down to stress (and while it probably was/is stress-related, at least I know a possible physical mechanism by which these symptoms come about.)

But that's neither here nor there.

I'm still curious to know why my upper molars might have been ground, and whether or not it's likely I will need more work done seeings that this has caused other teeth to contact prematurely?

Frankly, this whole affair winds me up. I might well have had some underlying problem, but I was coping just fine. They could have just advised me to brush my teeth some more ( I didn't do it a lot before), take more exercise, drink more water. Why did they have to start mucking about with my teeth like that, making irreversible changes? I thought I would be doing myself a favour by going to the dentist after so many years. Now I wish I'd never bothered.

 

[scared0902]

Sensitivity can be caused by cleaching or a bad bite, so your dentist probably thought that changing your bite would eliminate the sensitivity.

I'm sorry you had this experience. Would it be possible to get a second-opinion?

 

[annie778]

I'd agree with scared. The dentist understood you had pain in your lower teeth and thought it might be due to the bite being too hard from the upper teeth. A rather crude approach.

A second opinion is a good idea and don't ever let a dentist near your teeth unless he/she has explained exactly what they are planning to do to them. Never let a dentist near your mouth with a drill if they have not explained their plans. Another dentist may be able to build up your back teeth. I'd not go back to a dentist who you cannot communicate with.

 

[paulwest]

Thanks, I will be getting a second opinion soon. I'm hoping it won't come to needing to have teeth being re-built, and that they might be able to grind some other ones slightly to correct things.

I forgot to say, one piece of information I did manage to extract from the dentist is that I have a "deep bite". I'm not sure what that means and how it relates to things - whether it might have been caused by the initial grinding done to my teeth or not.

 

[annie778]

Thanks, I will be getting a second opinion soon. I'm hoping it won't come to needing to have teeth being re-built, and that they might be able to grind some other ones slightly to correct things.

You really need to go to an expert in bite problems if you plan on having more adjustments. It's never as straightforward as just grinding a bit here and there once someone has fiddled with your bite.

 

[paulwest]

Hmmm... I've been lucky to find another dentist taking on new patients -whether or not they are a bite specialist, I don't know

What you're saying sounds pretty grim. Are you in the dental profession?

P.S Just found out that "deep bite" means overbite. Now I'm even more annoyed, because I know for a FACT that the grinding he did contributed to this, because as soon as that was done I could literally FEEL my lower front teeth sliding way higher up the upper front ones than they did before.

 

[star thrower]

Paul something similar happened to me also after having my upper and lower back molars "adjusted" to stop the sensitivity I was experiencing when biting down. My back molar felt sore.

I don't know what other way one can go when this type of dental procedure is needed?

My bite also seems slightly off now in my side teeth.

 

[RP]

Paul I'm in the process of getting my "deep bite" fixed- the dentist is trying to build vertical height. The long term effects for me was a large gap in the front because my lower teeth kept hitting my upper front teeth and eventually they became loose. I also have TMJ issues because the joint is "closed" rather than a relaxed open position. Not to mention the closed sort of look is less than attractive. Mine all started when a dentist electively pulled a tooth to "fix my cross bite" when I was in my twenties, well I no longer had the cross bite but my teeth overlapped and slammed into each other.

You're young, I'm not, get it fixed now. I need to replace teeth by implant in the back and have veneers/crowns to redo my bite. About 8 years ago I was supposed to do braces and wear an appliance but I couldn't go through with it. Hind sight................

rp

 

[annie778]

Hmmm... I've been lucky to find another dentist taking on new patients -whether or not they are a bite specialist, I don't know

What you're saying sounds pretty grim. Are you in the dental profession?

P.S Just found out that "deep bite" means overbite. Now I'm even more annoyed, because I know for a FACT that the grinding he did contributed to this, because as soon as that was done I could literally FEEL my lower front teeth sliding way higher up the upper front ones than they did before.

No Im not, but I've had problems with my bite due to fiddling by dentists and I've had a dentist trying to fix it with an expensive and uncomfortable splint, only to find out from him that he'd have to refer me to a bite specialist as he couldn't make any progress (in fact he was making my bite worse). So I was very astonished as to why he had started doing expensive work when he was not an expert in the field. Basically the minute he realised how much effort was required he started losing interest. Plus he made a splint that really hurt my root crowned teeth and was really difficult to take out in the morning. The only reason I've had a problem with grinding is because another dentist talked me into having veneers years ago and messed up my naturally pefectly aligned bite and strong healthy teeth. Following this another dentist years ago did a bite analysis and drilled bits off here and there making my jaw slide forward more which Im sure has contributed to my needed to wear a night splint so as to avoid destroying my crowns. Anyway over the years Ive had various dentists examine my bite and nobody can work out what to do other than to give me a basic nightguard. For years I also had nightguards that made me feel groggy and headachey in the day. Having crowns replaced and getting a nightguard that is very thin and mimics my bite seems to have helped. But I still feel scared to fall asleep without one as I inevitably grind against dental work and I don't think this would have been such a problem with my natural teeth.

So in short I don't think most dentists don't have a clue about complex bite problems, or they can't be bothered to work it out because so many variables are involved & it's not cost effective to take the time to investigate. But it sure seems to be easy for them to cause the bite problem in the first place with a drill, which is why I say be careful with any dentist trying to fix yours by drilling more bits off here and there. I think the dentist who did this to you is very irresponsible. It reminds me a bit of a friend of mine went to her dentist complaining that one of her front teeth had chipped. He just shortened the tooth next to it to match. now she has two very short front teeth which look awful. So my policy is - always ask the dentist what he or she plans to do with that drill before it goes into you mouth. What a drill does is not easy to reverse.