Tooth pain after root canal treatment

[Rhubarbisevil]

I had root canal work done on Wednesday afternoon and the pain is unbearable. It’s 2am and I can’t sleep.

I cannot press down on my tooth with my tongue as it produces a stabbing pain. The tooth is throbbing and my ear hurts.

The dentist warned me that the tooth would be sore for a couple of days but is it supposed to be like this? I have only eaten soft food ie soup, a smoothie and I had very soft pasta yesterday which I couldn’t eat as I can’t bite down,

Is this infected do you think? I can take more ibuprofen to tide me over and I’d better phone the dentist at 9am,

Is this pain normal?

I had one in the summer. It hurt a lot if I bit down on it but it didn’t hurt if I wasn’t eating.

So it does sound like it is worse than mine was. I would definitely call the dentist and ask their advice.

Poor you, sending big hugs.

I had a root canal which failed and had to get the tooth extracted in the end after months of unbearable pain. Ended up with an abcess aswell. Never again will I ever let anyone attempt a root canal. Hope ur ok op x

Thank you x Have taken more painkillers so am a bit whoozy now x

Bloodyhell. It didn’t hurt before the treatment

The first part of my last root canal was sore to touch for a few days and then settled. The second part my whole jaw, top and bottom, was incredibly painful and I ended up with antibiotics.

I would call the dentist to get their advice.

That isn't right - if you haven't already, call you dentist and request an emergency appt today to have them check it

How is your tooth OP?

Hi, thanks for thinking of me. I phoned the dentist who said that I couldn’t even get an emergency appointment either today or Monday. She’s given me an emergency phone number, though.

I felt very ill about an hour ago with a hot face and swelling. I’ve been rubbing ice on my jaw and sucking on ice cubes and I feel a bit better even though I’m probably over dosing on ibuprofen. I’ll see what it’s like tomorrow and then I’ll have to get some antibiotics on Monday from the GP if it’s still not right.

Thanks for checking on me 🤒

I had similar and it was an abscess, the dentist didn't get all the root material out and it's festered under there. Searing pain. I'd call the emergency number if I was you.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/dental-abscess/

Thank you x

Sorry Op, but that doesn't sound right. Mine was a little sore for a few hours and that was it.
Hope you manage to get sorted out very soon

The root canal was the worse experience of my life. He drilled down to the nerve with no anestetic and said the nerve was still alive. Put sharp pins in my nerve to cut it off from the rest and just left me like that until the nerve died. Meantime I got an abcess which was the worse pain I ever have felt. By the time I got the abscess to heal I went back in and he did the root canal. Unbearable pain and once again an abcess. In the end I changed dentist and got the tooth extracted which after all the drilling was a difficult extraction. My new dentist said that if the tooth is so damaged it needs a root canal any good dentist would just extract as root canals can go horribly wrong. It sounds to me like you may have to either try get in dentist or go doctors and see if u need antibiotics. Sorry for long response but it was honestly the worse experience of my life and never ever would I let anyone try a root canal on me ever again. Hope your ok op x

It took my root canal tooth about a year to stop being painful when I pressed it or ate on it. The dentist threatened to open it all again and ‘have another go’. I couldn’t bear the thought so just ignored it as much as poss and it’s fine now... I don’t think I’d ever have another one done though.

Quick update - I think (hoping, praying) that I’m over the worst. I can bite on my tooth now - there’s still a sensation but nothing like the pain I had. I was so poorly yesterday that all I could do was sit and cry. My jaw is still swollen but it’s better than yesterday. I’ll see what it’s like tomorrow.

Oh, if the tooth doesn’t get better then I’m definitely having it extracted. No way am I going through this again!

Ive had two root canal treatments in the last year and none of them caused pain afterwards .
What did cause me pain though was an abcess , which was absolute agony to begin with ( co codamol didn’t touch it at all ) , just thought it was very bad toothache at this point ,rang Dentist in extreme pain on the tue , could only get emergency appointment for the Thursday two days later
Then weirdly the excruciating pain subsided to just a throbbing
I nearly cancelled my thu appointment as it wasn’t super painful
Lucky I didn’t as it turned out to be diagnosed as an abcess requiring antibiotics and more root canal to sort it out
So defo get it checked x

Doesn’t sound right to me. Hope it’s still improving. Tooth pain is bloody awful x

I phoned 111 who took it very seriously and I have an emergency dental appointment this afternoon.

That's good Op. Hope you get sorted.

Oh that’s great news OP. I hope they can help. Good luck.

Well done OP. Hope you’re feeling better soon.

Did they finish a root canal or start one? Root canals can be painful halfway through but shouldn't be like this once filled. Sometimes it can be a couple of days of toothache, but it should settle. It's not usual if that makes sense but it can happen.

Absolute bs that if a tooth needs root canal a good dentist would extract it, root canals don't have a 100% success rate but all that can go wrong is that it fails and the tooth needs extracting and most last year's and years and years. A good dentist would root fill a tooth if possible and you wanted it.

Glad you have an appointment and hope you get it sorted OP

Thank you! My first dentist (who was very good BTW) did the full root canal treatment and put in a temporary filling before I get the tooth crowned. She did tell me to come back if I had any problems. I phoned the dental practice on Friday to get an appointment for either Friday or Monday and the receptionist said they were fully booked as it was Christmas. This is how it all started.

Anyway, the emergency dentist has given me some antibiotics and said that the tooth is settling down now and I can finally move my face.

Thanks for your support. Mumsnet at its best!!

Just read back and I repeated the phone conversation from Friday. Anyway, I got a massive swelling on my jaw like a hard golf ball, so this is what has caused me most concern as you hear all sorts of things about sepsis now.

Anyway, I have the antibiotics which should do the trick as I very very rarely take them (ie once every 10 years or so).

Happy Christmas everyone x

Hi, I’m back. One half of my tooth fell off this afternoon All that was originally left of the tooth was the outer casing anyway so now I’m looking at a tooth of cement. I already have an appointment for Tuesday morning for a crown prep but does anyone know if the tooth can still be saved after this?