Question:
After years of being told I had great teeth, last year a fistule developed at
the gum of an upper molar. I had a root canal done. It was such an uneventful
experience (except for the many visits to the endontist's and then dentist's
for the crown) that I felt pretty good about it all.
This year after a filling replacement on a lower molar, I suffered pain that
was debilitating. An emergency, weekend trip to a dentist yielded a referral
to see my endontist and a prescription for Vicodin. I managed to avoid using
the Vicodin and was able to function by relatively generous use of Ibuprofen.
My endontist put me on anti-biotics. The pain went away. A few weeks later,
per plan, he began a root canal on this second tooth. After six visits (both
short and long), my endontist completed the root canal this past Wednesday.
At several points during my root canal therapy, the endontist accidentally
excited a nerve, so that the pain was terrible for a moment. Of course, it
seemed longer. Also, I now hate that sleeve that is placed around the tooth and
digs into my gums: It too hurts a lot. The novocaine shots hurt. I can bearly
stand for my endontist to pierce my gum yet again with the needle. There must
be a better way...
Post root canal: After a few days of hardly any pain, on Saturday the pain
became severe, radiating somewhat through the left side of my face, sometimes
mildly to my ear, sometimes mildly to my left arm. Ibuprofen helped. I took a
Vicodin to sleep, though the stuff doesn't seem to be what it's cracked up to
be. My temperature is normal, though I do feel a little hot and think I may
have a small fever.
I left a message on my endontist's answering machine. God willing anti-biotics
will help, or he can get in quickly and identify whether my canals need further
cleaning/clearing.
Patients--
Tell me, some of you that have had an uncooperative tooth, how many weeks of
pain did you suffer before all was said and done?
How many of you have ended up having a tooth pulled because the root canal
failed?
Answer:
I am a dentist AND a patient with no less than 15 endodontically
treated teeth in my own head...many going beyond the twenty year mark
without problems. Two years ago, I was having endo done on tooth #31,
lower right second molar...the appointment was at 1 PM on a Friday...it
was the second appointment in the series...went on for about an
hour...at 2:30PM the anasthesia was starting to wear off, by 3:30 I was
slamming my head against the pavement to put myself in a coma as an
attempt to deal with the pain...stayed narc'd up until Sat 6:00AM when
I started calling all of my dental buddies to have the tooth
extracted...which was finally done by noon on Saturday. Why did it fire
up? To this day, I have no idea whatsoever. We try to do the best we
can with what we know...it's all we are capable of.
You should had learned how to make a mandibular
block on yourself. I did after one wisdom tooth
extraction short after which I got a dry socket.
If I didn't pass out at the sight of needles, it might have been a
consideration...I have yet to stay conscious after getting my blood
drawn...no kidding!!! However, I have done a pin retained Class IV on #
8, and started endo on #21 on myself...tooth was non-vital fortunately.
