Dental pain advice

[HolidayThisYear]

Hi, hoping for some advise regarding my dental pain…

I had braces fitted last year. About 6 months in I felt a little movement in my crown (and also a bad taste 🤢). My orthodontist examined during a routine appointment and said we’ll see how it goes. By the next check up it was very tender, loose and unpleasant so he re-cemented it without anaesthetic.

It came a little loose again and also incredibly painful / sensitive to even the slightest touch.

A week later I had the braces removed (as planned) and during that appointment the orthodontist numbed the tooth and gave it a good clean and re-cemented the crown again. There was no sign of infection on the X-ray, just slightly inflamed root but he said normal after braces because of the trauma.

He said let it all settle, but potentially will need a root canal.

I have let it settle for 9 days. I have agonising flare ups where the pain is intolerable. Then it fades to mild ache. Off & on. Yesterday it was so bad I took ibroprofen, codeine and paracetamol through out the day and still struggled.

I managed to get an energy appointment with my nhs dentist. She x-ray’d it but could see nothing - no sign of infection. So she has also said leave it, until I can no longer tolerate the pain, in which case she’ll start root canal procedure or extract it.

Does this sound reasonable? Why does the pain flair up so intensely if nothing is showing on the x-ray? I’m pretty tough but this pain is nauseating. Tempted to have it pulled out, but annoying after just spending lots of braces and finally having a smile I’m proud of.

Thanks for reading if you got this far!

I’ve not had braces but have had a lot of dental surgery. Ibruprofen is by far the best fir dental pain. Try alternating with paracetamol every 2 hours but I think I’d call your dentist and ask fiorca prescription for a higher dose of brufen..

Thanks @BunnyRuddington. I don't think the braces are the cause, more that they've added to the trauma to the already dodgy tooth, plus made it harder to get it seen sooner.

Would you just have it taken out? Or do these things tend to settle? I'm disappointed my dentist couldn't offer anymore guidance than 'wait to see if it becomes unbearable' - seems pretty tough!

The thing is if it isn't infected they don't like to take out a nerve of a relatively healthy tooth. Sometimes when you remove a nerve there isn't enough tooth left to be able to put a crown back on or enough tooth to have a crown placed.

Do you clean yourself around the crown? If not make sure you're doing that daily with antibacterial mouth wash.

It seems that the braces might have just irritated it and in time hopefully it will go down.

Have you tried orajel? If you put it around your gum on the crown it acts as a numbing gel.

If it is sensitivity each day rub sensitive toothpaste around the crown/gum.

Also avoid eating on that side whilst it's still painful to allow time for the inflammation to settle down.

Thanks @TurtleBay28 I will up my cleaning routine and give it a bit of attention. Today it totally manageable with regular ibruprophen but Wednesday I could barely cope with it despite doubling up on all the painkillers. I have some oragel which is good - applying to the roof of my mouth as it's the root rather than the tooth that's painful 👍🏻

Honestly I think ts the braces aggravating it and the crown needs to settle. Has he put it back right? As if it isn't seated correctly it will cause pain.

Get some interdental brushes and some floss and clean under and around the edges gently but thoroughly. Don't chew on that side.

Braces do hurt like a bitch especially when a tooth is already fragile to start with.