Starting about 3 weeks ago, I randomly had a sharp pain in my upper left teeth when eating. I thought maybe I had got something stuck in my gums, so I flossed, and the next day it was still sore, so I flossed again. The pain got worse, so on that Monday I made an appointment to go see my dentist. He took X-Rays and could not find anything obvious causing the pain, but said I did have a tooth in that region with a filling that had a weak spot in it, so he drilled out and replaced that filling. By the end of the week it wasn't feeling any better, so I called back and he suggested I go to an endodontist because he could not see any other reason for the pain I was having.
The endodontist took X-Rays and determined that the large filling my dentist had replaced was very close to the pulp, and so he decided it needed a root canal. Half of root canal is finished, and the pain is still there. At this point, there is a constant kind of aching/pressure feeling on my teeth from my canines forward, as well as a sharp pain with anything cold in my upper teeth, right by where the root canal was done. The endodontist takes more x-rays, and does hot, cold, tapping, and electrical pulp testing. On the X-ray, i have another large filling in a bottom tooth, directly under the one that received the root canal. The endodontist believes this is causing my pain and also needs a root canal. On all testing, the upper tooth reacts painfully to tapping and cold, and does not react to electrical pulp testing. On that day he numbs my bottom teeth, and the pain goes away. So his decision is that the bottom tooth is causing the pain, and the top tooth hurts because the pain is being referred there. Go back in today to start the root canal on the bottom tooth. He completely numbs my bottom teeth and I ask to rinse my mouth out before we start. And when I go to rinse my mouth with water that is slightly cold, same sharp pain in my upper teeth. I mention it to my endodontist, who redoes cold and electical pulp testing. The cold test is done about 4 times, and the upper tooth (directly in front of the one that was root canaled) reacts to the cold with lingering, sharp pain every time. Then, on a 5th test, that tooth stops being able to feel anything. No response to heat, cold, or electrical pulp testing. I don't feel anything at all, even though the teeth directly in front and behind continue to have a normal response. Endodontist now believes that that upper tooth needs a root canal. However, on the X-rays it has only 1 small filling, and it is very far from the pulp of my tooth. Is there anything else that could be causing these pains? I don't want to and cant afford to get random root canals until we happen to get the right tooth.
I have been in some form of pain constantly for about 3 weeks now, and so I can no longer tell where the pain is coming from. No amount of ibuprofen or Tylenol seem to make any difference in the constant pressure / ache. The sharp pain is very random, and happens most often with drinking cold beverages, or opening my mouth outside to breath (where it is below 20 degrees out). But, occasionally I can drink a beverage from the refrigerator with no pain, and breath outside without a problem for a few minutes. I took no pain medication at all from Saturday morning until today, Wednesday, and the sharp pain still seems to come and go completely randomly.
Sorry for the wall of information. I can provide any pictures that might be helpful. I do not have a copy of my X-Ray at the moment but I might be able to get them tomorrow. I am just so sick of being in pain and have no idea what to do.
Submitted February 12, 2015 at 04:09AM by hannahel http://ift.tt/1vliFDQ Dentistry
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