Teeth advice, please?

[wutheringalice]

So, since having my baby three months ago, my teeth have gone haywire; I've had an old root canalled tooth out, as it was infected and the tooth next to it had to be root canalled three weeks ago. It still gives me pain (although it comes and goes.) Now I also have pain on the other side of my mouth, although I'm not sure where that's coming from!

I've always had bad teeth (although they look absolutely fine if you don't look too hard..) and a lot of them are filled. I'm really frustrated as in the last few years I've tried really hard to keep my dental/hygienist appointments and so on. I also think I had a dodgy dentist; he started drilling to do a filling and I heard him say to the nurse that I needed a root canal- surely he picked up in this during x-rays?!

I have a horrible feeling that I'm going to have to have this tooth out and if I do, I'll have to have something to replace it as it will be noticeable. It's actually really starting to affect my mental health. I could probably take some money from the savings I have to buy a house, but it would still be gutting.

I've seen a new dentist who told me if I needed extensive work, he would send me back to the old dentist! I am just at a loss as to what to do.

Has anyone else been in the same position? I have a check up booked for the 18th, but if I still get pain I'm going next Friday when my other half is off.

[MrsMorton]

Do you see an NHS dentist? If so then you have maternity exemption?

The only tooth that has a chance of lasting forever is one which hasn't been restored, once a tooth has been filled then it's on a slippery slope. Are you needing new fillings? If so then it is usually a dietary factor that's the cause.

Sometimes we do what we think needs to be a simple filling which ends up being root canal treatment because the hole is bigger than anticipated. You can't necessarily see that on a radiograph. You should be able to ask your dentist questions like this though.

[MrsMorton]

It's not the dentist appointments that give you good teeth btw, it's what you do in between them.