To wonder what the hell I do about my tooth?

[MyFaceHurts]

I had toothache back in June, horrible, deep nerve pain. Went to the dentist, saw a guy I hadn’t seen before. He x rayed the tooth and said I needed root canal. He made a start that day (1.5 hours), as this was on a Friday and he didn’t want to leave me in pain over the weekend. It was fucking agony while he removed as much as he could of the nerve. He then put a temporary filling in and made another appointment for me on the Monday. All good over the weekend, pain had gone.

Went back on Monday thinking it wouldn’t be so bad as I believed the nerve was now gone. I was wrong, it was another 1.5 hours just as bad as before. Finally after a lot of drilling he’d managed to fill the canals and took an x ray to make sure everything was ok.

It wasn’t ok. Somehow he’d managed to put the filling (long two pronged thing that was supposed to go into the canals) INTO MY GUM. I couldn’t quite believe it. He was very flustered and kept apologising and said that he’d have to remove it, and I’d have to come back another time. Basically I was back to where I started before that appointment except now presumably with added damage to my gums.

Unfortunately I was going away the next day for a couple of weeks. I got home from the dentist and had a think and then phoned and explained what happened, and asked if it was possible to see the other dentist next time, as after 3 hours of agony culminating in having a filling put in my gum, I was a bit scared. They said I could but he’s very booked up and I can’t go until the 29th july.

Problem is the temporary filling has come out this weekend and now I’m in a lot of pain. I know I can hopefully get an emergency appointment on Monday but that’s far away when you’re in this much pain.

I know there is definitely still some nerve left In one of the tooth canals, which is why the pain is so bad. I’m taking painkillers, but I’m still in pain and my tooth is pulsating the whole time.

How the hell am I going to get through to Monday? Bearing in mind it’s nerve rather than cavity pain. Any tips or suggestions?

I had an ancient filling fall/ping out earlier in the year - couldn't get an appointment until the afternoon. What I thought was a sharp peice of tooth (turned out to be a steel post from the earlier filling) was scraping and cutting my tongue.
A piece of chewing gum over it was the low tech solution to cover it and stop the painful scraping.
Currently the temp filling is holding up and waithing for an appointment att the dental hospital to remove the tooth; it's right at the back, and not much of the tooth remaining to anchor a crown.

If that ever happens again the red wax from round a Baby Bel cheese is what my ds used to us when his braces were poking him!

I was also numbed up and had no pain whatsoever apart from the jab hurting a bit more than it usuay does!

OP, you need to do exactly as Bickles says tomorrow morning. The principal of your general dental practice, needs to start to sort that out for you tomorrow-either the practice needs to absorb the cost of a specialist private endodontist to rectify it or you need to have that tooth extracted and the area explored to make sure the extruded gutta percha is all gone too.
That's quite a startling perforation.
Posters who are rambling on about it taking too long/bring over 2visits are focusing on the wrong thing.

I've had several root canals by different providers, and the process was always the same - at the consultation you're given antibiotics to clear up any infection, and pain medication, then the procedure is scheduled for a week later. It's hard to numb an infected tooth. And the whole procedure takes 1 hour to 1.5 hours, and my teeth have tiny complicated roots that are hard to clean out. I would complain for sure.

@MyFaceHurts that's absolutely awful what the Dentist has done, are you sure he was qualified? You poor thing, just looking at the pictures and reading your description made me shudder.

I second/third/fourth other posters - you have to complain about that, in the first instance to the Practice and take further if necessary, that's not just a simple mistake as someone else said that is sailing very close to malpractice.

I think you should call the dentist again on Monday and demand that you are seen by a competent dentist immediately, they've messed up they need to correct it NOW.

You've had a number of good suggestions regarding trying to manage the pain and I have nothing else to add to them, I really feel for you tooth/mouth pain is horrendous.

Looking at the radiograph, the base of the cavity is very deep, just above bone and will almost certainly be sub-gingival. Perforations or iatrogenic damage are much more likely in this clinical scenario.
I'm not sure that tooth was restorable with endo tbh, I'd have to see it clinically too to decide.
You need to be assertive tomorrow morning but not hostile, as you need the principal to act. Definitely don't use words like butchery when you ring tomorrow first thing.

Perforations are a recognised complication of RCT, and there’s never a guarantee with it either. Sometimes you will end up having the tooth out anyway.
You do need to be reasonable and yes definitely don’t use words like butchery!

Don’t worry I’m very polite, I actually felt awful phoning up and asking to see another dentist, because although the first guy was shite as a dentist he was really lovely.

So the perforation is quite a common thing then? And not necessarily caused by negligence, it’s just one of those things that can happen?

You can call NHS 111 for dental help at the weekend. You might get some decent painkillers.

Clove oil. But I think I would possibly find another dentist. X

Quick update - I spent ages writing a formal email of complaint this morning and I’ve sent it off. Unfortunately the practice manager has covid so she won’t be able to respond until next week at the earliest.

I also asked for an appointment to sort out the temporary filling but the good dentist doesn’t work on Mondays 😫 and I’d rather be in pain than go back to the other one again. So I’m booked in for tomorrow. Luckily the pain has eased off quite a bit now compared to the weekend so I can do another day.

Best of luck for tomorrow OP

Good luck and well done for complaining too.

Well done for sending the complaint @MyFaceHurts pleased to hear the pain has subsided a bit, good luck and all the best for tomorrow.

Get the tooth out and spend the root canal money + crown money on an implant. Best decision ever. I have always had to replace crowns too 🤯

On the NHS they're not doing implants, OP is lucky to be getting a root canal. On the NHS they are very cheap in comparison to getting an implant privately

Update - so went to see the good dentist today and it turns out that temporary filling is actually still there. The pain I’ve been having is because there is infection in the canals, so he’s given me some different antibiotics, metronidazole this time.

He did another X-ray and then we went over the plan. He has actually done a lot of endodentistry in the past and said he is ‘cautiously optimistic’ that my tooth can be saved. He said because the perforation is low down it shouldn’t be too much of a problem, and he will seal that and fill the canals. He took his time to explain everything and asked if I was happy with him doing it.

I feel reassured that he knows his stuff, and at least if he does it it will be sorted quicker than being referred. I asked about whether I would be in pain during it as it was awful last time, and he said it was a very precise procedure, him and I both need to be calm and it won’t be any help if I’m in pain and moving around, so he will make sure I’m adequately numbed.

I think that he will be able to help, he seemed very confident and took time to listen to me. And my experience of when I had a filling from him before was brilliant, it was the deftest and least painful dental experience I’ve ever had, although that was just a regular filling.

Thay sounds positive, good.

NHS dentists don't normally do root canal as they are difficult to do.

If not done right, as in your case, they cause lots of issues.
I had to see a Dentist who only done root canals...cost me £1000. 😮

NHS dentists don't normally do root canal as they are difficult to do

Mine cost £65.20 with my highly skilled, hugely competent general NHS dentist.

I don't trust dentists ever. I have a molar on the left hand side that has a hole in. It's not causing me any problems but three different dentists have not been able to find it. I can feel it with my tongue.
For anyone reading this who ends up suffering with a dental problem out of hours, ring 111 the time I was having issues, I was given an out of hours appointment with a GP who handed me a box of tramadol.
That was most helpful.

Is that a K-File or a GP Point in your gum?! How on earth did he get it there!!!

You were not numbed enough. You shouldn't feel a thing.

Odd he tried to remove the nerve on the Friday and completely fill on the Monday! A paste needs to be inserted in your canals than a temp filling and we have our patients come back in two weeks to allow it to settle and treat.. then we will finish the root canal.

A lot of dentists have specialist interests. The one I worked with speciality was endo.

It says on my practice’s website that the good dentist has a ‘passion for root canals’ 🤷‍♀️🤣 and he has endo experience so fingers crossed.

As opposed to the other dentist, I think my root canal must have been his first go 🤣.

@PinkButtercups I’m not sure what either of those things you mentioned are but it’s the filling that should have gone in the canals…but it’s in my gum. I’m no dentist but I honestly I don’t know how he managed to get it so wrong.

Despite everything I’m still feeling really bad for complaining about him, he’s a really nice person. But hopefully it will have been flagged up that perhaps he needs more root canal training.