Worried I permanently ruined my bite

[AnxiousJenny]

Hello,
I am terrified I've done irreversible damage to my bite alignment. This is kind of a long story so I'll try to be as concise as I can.
Back in May I had two teeth worked on - the two back molars on the lower left. My dentist prepped both teeth and placed temporaries, referred for the root canal where they recemented temporaries and then back to my dentist to order the permanent crowns. Permanent crowns came in while my family was down with a stomach bug so I didn't get back in for those to be seated until late June. When I went in to have those seated i went ahead and had crown prep and temporaries seated on the two teeth directly in front of those. After all of this I could tell something felt off with my new permanent crowns on my molars but I was all numb which made it difficult. I told the assistant who did a small adjustment and then said I likely needed to get used to the new material. Well, I gave it 2 weeks and then my area had a hurricane. By the time we got through the aftermath of that, my permanent crowns for the other two teeth were in and I went to get those seated in late July. The assistant had such a hard time getting those to fit that she had to get the dentist to do it. He had to make multiple adjustments to the crowns before even seating them and even still it seemed challenging. After that things still seemed off- he made a few more adjustments and once again said to give it a few weeks. Again, because of life events I did not get back in until late August when I told the dentist the crowns still felt off and I was having pain when I brushed one of the teeth. I feel these crowns had pushed my bite into a different position. Anyway he checked with the paper but seemed hesitant to check while sitting up. My bite has always been tricky and changes when I'm sitting versus lying down. He did a few adjustments and sent me on my way. Well, those adjustments didn't seem to fully resolve things so I went back again in September- more adjustments and also scheduled work to be done on some upper teeth in October. Went back this past Monday (one week after the last adjustment) because I had been having horrible TMJ pain and jaw and face pain only by Monday a lot of that felt better. However, I still felt my bite was out of alignment so I still went in. I also was worried about my upcoming work and those new crowns being made to fit a misaligned bite. He did a few more adjustments and I could tell he was getting frustrated. Only now I think maybe I had him adjust too much. I cant chew properly, my jaw and face hurt horribly. The teeth right before my canines are y hitting before anything else. In all of this he still seemed annoyed anytime I wanted to check my bite sitting as well as lying down.
I am now incredibly anxious and worried that i will never be out of pain, that i will never be able to chew comfortably and with good contacts between my teeth, and that this is now unfixable. Im still planning to go to my dentist next week for the work on my upper teeth, but im nervous about talking to him. It's always been hard for me to identify my natural bite and I wish he had taken more time to talk to me when I came in for adjustments instead of seeming rushed and agitated).
I guess I'm just looking for reassurance that this isn't hopeless and irreversible.

 

[AnxiousJenny]

Adding that when I went in for these adjustments I was having pretty significant jaw pain - turns out I think some of it was actually due to sinus issues I was having and some referred pain from the work I need on the upper teeth. All of this might have been able to be sorted out had my dentist tried to talk to me instead of rushing to check my bite and do adjustments. I really am concerned I had him do adjustments that weren't really needed in part because of this.

 

[Gordon]

Sounds like you need to ask to be referred to a specialist in Prosthodontics, there have been some other threads on here with similar issues, so you're not alone.

Oh and so far as I can recall, they've all ended satisfactorily eventually, so don't despair!

 

[AnxiousJenny]

That is reassuring. What does a prothodontist do for something like this? I am mostly concerned that I cannot chew normally. It feels strained when I chew and my jaw pops. Is this something my jaw might adjust to and get better while I'm waiting to see someone or should I resign myself to smoothies for the immediate future?

 

[AnxiousJenny]

Is it possible that redoing crowns would be the best solution here? I am just kicking myself for letting him continue making adjustments instead of just waiting and seeing someone else or letting the one adjustment settle. I was just worried if I had things uneven and had more work done it would make things even worse.

 

[Gordon]

It's something you might become accustomed to, but there is a risk of longer term jaw issues if it goes on too long. Unfortunately I can't really advise without knowing how bad it is, hence advice to see an expert.
There are a few different approaches a specialist could do, depending on what the issue actually is, again, can't tell via the internet