Just been for my 6 monthly check up and I need a crown on my back tooth. Last week I suddenly thought my back too tooth felt odd - spiky - as if some of the filling had come away. Well, he said part of the tooth had come away and it would be better to crown it than fill it. He didn't think a filling would last long as it would be a big filling.
Now I am terrified of the dentist. I could feel myself almost crying at the thought of a 1 1/4 hours appointment. He took an xray and said he couldn't see any decay, but he warned all patients that there was always the possibility of needing root canal (almost fainted at this point).
In my panic i forgot to mention my odd swollen feeling. Now I think I have TMJ as my jaws click a lot and I know I clench and grind too much. My jaw and from ear down to neck has been feeling puffy over the weekend. It doesn't hurt, just feels swollen inside to me iykwim. It felt achey after dentist, but had made huge click when I opened my mouth and think visit has exacerbated it. Plus, had awful sore throat last week so could be viral thing. Or is this some grim sign that I'll need root canal? The tooth doesn't hurt and he said there was no sign of decay when he looked at the tooth or on the xray.
Anyway I am scared and have to wait 2 weeks - wish it could be over sooner.
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General health
Tell me about crowns
pigsinmud · 28/06/2011 13:08
About 20% of teeth prepared for crowns will need root canal treatment at some point. Unfortunately it's a fact but the sooner you have it done if the tooth is broken, the better as all the bugs that are in your mouth won't be getting into your tooth. We don't drill for the whole appointment, there is measuring and impression taking (the putty) which can take aaaaages to set, also a temporary crown is quite time consuming to make, don't forget the time that the nurse needs to clear up and the dentist needs to write notes and lab forms etc. A long appointment doesn't necessarily mean it's long for you with your mouth open, just that lots has to be done.
PM me if you would like more info 
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