Any dentists about?

[prawnonthebarbie]

I'm at a loss for what to do. I'm 25 weeks pregnant btw. A week ago I had pain that came on in my upper right teeth. Narrowed it down to one tooth in particular that hurts if I press on it. Other teeth do ache on and off but this one I feel the most. I have a dull, constant ache in it.

Twice this week I've been to the dentist. They were reluctant to do xrays but did on the second visit. They couldn't see any infection. They did a cold test with dry ice on my teeth which hurt the surrounding teeth, but there was no sensation in the sore tooth. Jaw is a bit achey, cheek is sore if I press it and I've had headaches.

They said it's possible I'm grinding and had a mouth guard ordered. They didn't want to do root canal unless 100% sure the tooth had an abscess. Basically wait and see if it gets a lot worse.

I can't go on with this pain in my tooth and and not knowing if it's infected. Surely if the tooth is non responsive there's something going wrong with the nerve? Wouldn't it be better to treat it now before it gets worse?

I'm concerned about just leaving it as I'm pregnant and don't want the infection to spread.

Can anyone help? Do I push them to do something?

Push them. Definitely. You’re in pain
I’d email the practice manager and explain say exactly what you said here. ( email better for the paper trail)

And say it needs sorting because you’re in pain
Could you get a second opinion from another dentist in the practice?

Good luck

Yes I think I will. From what I've read a potential untreated abscess is really bad. Two dentists in the same practice looked at it and neither of them were sure about it.

Have you had a cold? Could be sinusitis. The X-ray is reassuring. They are right not to intervene unless definitive sign of disease.

No cold, don't have any signs of sinusitis. Would that cause a tooth to be non responsive though?

No but could cause headaches and tenderness to pressure on upper teeth and cheek soreness. So you have 3 signs of sinusitis 😊

Does it have a filling in it? Is it painful to bite on?

If it wasn't sensitive to the cold at all, and is tender when you touch it it sounds like irreversible pulpitis, which is when the tooth is dying basically. It wouldn't show on an x-ray yet.

If there's no infection on the x-ray and no swelling then it's not an abscess, but that doesn't mean it doesnt need a root canal.

It could of course be that you are grinding it, with the sore cheek/headaches that sounds like grinding, but it sounds like the tooth ache is more severe than that and not being sensitive to the cold suggests the nerve is dead. I think you probably are grinding as well but also have classic toothache

@BlueCornsihPixie well they said they thought I was grinding. But it could be both right?! Buggered tooth and I've been grinding.

There's no filling in it. It's a front tooth, never had any issue with it before. It's kind of annoying when I eat, but not excruciating. I've taken to eating on one side. Drinking something hot makes it ache.

It could be both yes

Have you ever knocked it? How are your gums?

To be fair if it's a front tooth with no filling It's very unlikely that it would die, if you knocked badly it can die but you really don't want to do an unnecessary root canal on a front tooth

Whilst obviously not pleasant for you what they are doing sounds like the best management to me, knowing it's got no filling and no likely cause of pulpitis.

If it's what's called occlusal trauma, which is when you bruise the tooth due to grinding, then a bitegaurd will help.

If it's not and it's pulpitis then the mouthgaurd won't help, at which point you root fill it.

But if it is occlusal trauma, and you root fill it the pain will probably go but it would have been root filled unnecessarily. Root fillings have a lifespan and will fail at some point, and you risk losing the tooth at a later date, which obviously being a front tooth you don't want.

Okay I hadn't heard anything about occlusal trauma so that's interesting. Would that make it not feel the dry ice though?

Thanks for your responses, I've felt really lost for information the last few weeks and like a painful puzzle I can't solve!