WHAT THE FUCK is wrong with my tooth

[Soretootharghhh]

posting on here again for traffic as it’s still not better unfortunately

I’ve had horrific upper toothache for almost a year. The tooth itself hurts, and I get episodes of an agonising pain up and across my cheek and in my ear. My lower jaw is achey and tired and I can’t eat on that side of my mouth because its excruciating to put any pressure on the tooth. I know exactly which tooth it is and the surrounding teeth are fine

obviously covid has caused a long waiting list at the dentist but thankfully I’ve had the first appointment for the root canal several months ago and my next appointment is coming up soon.

but the tooth has never really got better. It felt slightly better after the first root canal but days later went back to being bad again. I expected the pain to go after the first appointment and I was so upset that it didn’t get better.

my gum itself wasn’t any different or swollen and I think they said the infection was inside the tooth or root or something. But I’ve noticed now that the gum at the tooth feels weird- not swollen but a bit wrinkly and sort of saggy? It’s hard to explain but it just doesn’t feel right

i just want this pain to stop. I always thought tooth infections could become serious if they don’t get fixed- im fine and the infection hasn’t caused any other problems in the rest of my body and it’s been almost a year so I know it’s fine in my case but I’d still rather get it fixed ASAP.

does anyone know what on earth could be going on and why it still feels horrific? I had about 4 courses of antibiotics before the first root canal and it’s still not getting better. Will it feel better after the second appointment or will they even be able to do the second root canal if it’s maybe still infected?

thanks 🙏

Root canal doesn't always work. At this point surely just get the toot extracted and be done with it?

Yes, have the bugger removed!

I had an encapsulated abscess under a tooth that sounded very similar. The relief I got when I got it out was amazing. It will never heal because they're no antibiotics getting to the actual infection.

Sounds like the root canal hasn't worked. They could try again but tooth might be crap anyway. Get it pulled!

I'd have it out

Could even be a tiny vertical fracture, they can be miniscule, causes severe pain. I'd personally get the tooth extracted.

Yeah sounds infected- I had to have mine out in similar circumstances. The sheer relief when it came out is something I can’t even explain

Abcess. It probably needs to be drained but they don't like doing that. When was your last course of antibiotics? I've always found Metronidazole to be the best at dealing with dental infections.

They may also have missed a bit when doing the root canal but this would show on x Ray. Most likely an abcess under neath the tooth. You may find that you end up with a fistula on the gum through which it drains if it's left long enough.

Sounds more like sinus pain, than too the ache

Is it a molar? Sometimes there can be a hidden canal in a molar tooth that the dentist misses, leaving a pocket of infection.

I had a molar extracted a year after having a root canal on it, turns out the abscess triggered a fibrous growth to form at the root of the tooth which would never have healed. It's called a periapical granuloma

Maybe TMJ dysfunction and not an actual tooth? Years ago I nearly had a root canal but sought a second opinion, root canal not needed at all but have TMJ problems, pain can be very intense at times and feel like it's located on a particular tooth, normally an upper molar for me, also can give me terrible ear pain, temple pain and pain near eyes...

I was really hoping I’d be able to keep the tooth- i don’t want to lose a tooth at my age and I know implants etc are an option but the idea of not having my own tooth really upsets me for some reason! I guess I might just have to suck it up though and get the tooth out if it’s for the best because I can’t keep going on in this pain🥴