Another root canal question. Top tooth?

[dancer67]

I had one root canal done on a crowned right bottom molar back in May. No problems with that.

 

I have a crowned bottom molar on my left side as well. It had a pulpotomy as well. 2 weeks ago on vacation I noticed that everytime I would eat something hot, I had terrible pain on that side going into my gums and jaw. Since I was 300 miles away, I had to wait 4 days to see my dentist.

 

Come to find out it wasn't my crowned molar at all. I had a crack in upper molar, and he said it was referred pain. I already had a silver filling in that tooth since I have been 16 or 17 yo. So he repaired it with a silver filling, and said it should calm down. That was last Monday. I went back on Wed and was still complaining, so he gave me some antibiotics as a just in case and said if it isn't any better by Tuesday(tomorrow) to come in. I already made the appt for tomorrow as a just in case.

 

I still cannot eat anything hot on that side of my mouth. The pain goes into my bottom of my mouth, and feels like it is my bottom crowned molar. He did the freezing air test to make sure on that bottom crowned tooth and I felt nothing. When he did the upper tooth, holy cow it hurt. So, I am thinking I am going to have to have that upper molar root canaled.

 

The last one was not fun. It hurt when he did the first nerve. And a bottom molar only has two canals and I have heard uppers have 3? And it is way in back of my mouth. I do not want to pull it because then I would only have one molar left on the top, and I have a tooth on the bottom and I believe my bite will be off.

 

How bad is getting a canal done on an upper tooth compared to a lower tooth? And since this one is not crowned, I will assume that he will just temp fill it and then I need to go back for temp crown, then again for perm crown? Or will he put a temp crown on it right away?

 

I am just tired of not being able to eat on that side. If this was a last molar I would have them yank it, but I can't.

 

I only have one set of molars on my right side and both are crowned. Bottom is root canaled and upper one is crowned with no root canal or puplotomy. No issues with that upper right one.

 

On left I have two upper molars, and two bottom molars left. With only bottom last molar crowned with a pulpotomy.

 

My dentist does root canals all the time. I don't understand when I had the last one done why it hurt so bad.

 

Should I tell him he needs to numb me more? I am nervous since that upper tooth has 3 canals.

 

I cannot afford an endodontist. A root canal at our office is $500.00(discounted since I have no insurance for dental) and at endo it would be $950.00 and that doesn't even include crown or anything. And they will not discount and you have to pay upfront. At my dental office, I don't have to pay upfront. The only thing I have to give them is half down for the crown which is $700.00, so it would be $350 and I just pay them a big chunk every month.

 

So what has been your experience with an upper tooth canal?

Edited September 3, 2012 by dancer67

[dancer67]

:grouphug:

[LMA]

I just had a back molar pulled two weeks ago after the root canal failed. The tooth cracked. The endodontist told me that cracked teeth and root canals are iffy. The root canal worked for two weeks. Then I had more pain. I kept going back to the endodontist for the last two months to see if the pain would go away and a crown put on, but nothing could be done.

 

I'm getting an implant put in as I have 4 permanent teeth missing from when I had braces as a teenager.

 

The oral surgeon who pulled my tooth said the tooth was infected. So with cracked teeth and pain, there is a chance that your tooth is infected. I had no fever or inflamed gums to indicated an infection. It was all in the tooth.

 

So take my experience as my two cents worth, but when a root canal hurts after it's done, especially with the crack, it could mean that nothing more can be done for your tooth. They cannot crown a tooth that still has pain and another root canal may not help you.

 

Best to you.

[dancer67]

I have been on Amoxicillan(SP?) for a week now. He did not notice any infection on xray.He gave it to me as a just in case I think.

Oh boy, I couldnt afford an implant. :0(

 

Let's hope that it can be fixed.

[Mommyfaithe]

My top tooth was the only root canal I have that didn't fail. come to find out 15 years later the dentist missed one of the roots....and not it needs to be re-done. I did not find the top one more painful.....until the darn thing got infected....but I did get 15 good years from it:D

[justLisa]

I had a root canal on the top that was completely pain free (during the procedure). I also had two crowns on the bottom that hurt, but then he did another injection and found the nerve.

 

My dentist is excellent at pain free procedure and he supplies nitrous.

[LMA]

I have been on Amoxicillan(SP?) for a week now. He did not notice any infection on xray.He gave it to me as a just in case I think.

Oh boy, I couldnt afford an implant. :0(

 

Let's hope that it can be fixed.

 

I hope it can be fixed.

 

My infection was not on the x-ray. The endodontist took an xray every time I went in to see how the tooth had changed. We had been struggling with this for four months. I was on Clindamycin before the extraction and I was on it afterwards also.

 

If your root canal procedure is hurting, please say something while the dentist is working on it. It should not hurt during the procedure.

 

Tooth pain is no fun. I hope the pain goes away.

[dancer67]

I will def. say something if it hurts. The last one hurt ALOT for about a half a minute then I was okay. He is usually very good about stopping and giving me more novacaine.

 

I don't even know for sure yet if he is going to decide to root canal it, or do a pulpotomy. He is very conservative. He did a pulpotomy on the tooth that eventually needed a root canal, and was very good about the price of it. The other bottom molar that has a pulpotomy has given me no trouble at all(well, I thought that was the tooth that was hurting at first).

 

Am I the only one who spend this much on dental bills? I looked into dental insurance and for what they cover, it is no way worth the cost. Most of them only cover a crown once every 5 years. I have had three crowns done in 2.

 

A friend of mine said I have had so much dental work done that it would be cheaper to pull them all out and get dentures! Ummm, I have thought of that until many people said that dentures are horrible and can be painful. And I am to young for that. After all the work I have had done, it would be a shame to do that.

 

The first thing I am going to do when this tooth gets fixed and good to go is eat a big slice of HOT pizza!