Pain after root canal: is this normal?

[NanasInJamas]

About 10 days ago I saw an endodontist privately for some complicated ( and expensive) root canal treatment. He was happy with the result and all seemed to go well (very long procedure; 2 hours).

I am in a lot of pain still, particularly at night (the pain wakes me up). I am alternating ibuprofen and paracetemol & codeine.

Is this normal? I was praying that this would sort the problem out (second root canal after the first dentist messed it up).

Not sure what to do now or how long to leave it. It isn't sensitive to hot ot cold so I don't think it's infected.

Any advice very gratefully received!

I have had two lots of root canal treatment (both large teeth) and my dentist said it may take up to a couple of weeks for it all to settle down, one of them was absolutely fine but the last one did take around the two week mark.

Maybe for piece of mind you could ring the dentist and have a word with him?

Fingers crossed that you are pain free soon

I'd definitely call him if you are being woken by pain, that sounds a bit excessive for 10 days later. I work for a dentist and people call with such queries all the time, so don't hold back from doing it as you feel you should just leave it and wait.

Thanks, both. I'll give him a call today. It is much worse at night which is a bit worrying.

Yes call. I have had LOADS of root canals, the most complex on a back molar (4 roots!). Was still in pain after a week and required ABs. I also had trismus (lock jaw) and couldn't open my mouth properly for nearly 3 weeks. That was scary! try and keep your jaw moving as it helps the blood flow and promotes healing.

I had problems with my root canal.

I was allergic to the temporary dressing that is put in midway during treatment. The throbbing and pain was unbelieveable. The dentist thought I had an infection but antibiotics didn't touch it.

I had the dressing removed and a steroid put into the canal. Pure relief!

The permanent filling was fine after the root canal was completed.

just wanted to empathise! i had a root canal redone yesterday (second time on the same tooth - a front one) and after the anaesthetic wore off it has been complete agony! before i had it done it was extremely painful and infected so have been taking paracetemol/codeine and ibuprofen every 4 hours for well over a week. as well as 2 types of antibiotic. the dentist yesterday said it will be sore for a while so i am hoping this will start to improve.. but in the meantime i am in constant unbearable pain. it is driving me mad, i cant work or do anything. i have to go back next week for next stage of treatment ie reclean and filling. but i think if it is still really painful after the weekend i will go back. i really hope you feel better soon, the pain is just hideous and i wouldnt wish it on anyone. i think i thought that once it had been drained of infection that it would feel a lot better...but maybe with time (i hope). hope you are able to take it easy and catch up on sleep (i find sleeping upright better and also i keep swishing warm salty water which seems to help)xx

If the pain is waking you, it could be that you are grinding & that the filling is high in the bite.

I'd call your endodontist to have it checked.

And napoleona, that isn't right. Sore is just that, a little irritating, but bearable, constant agony is NOT right. Please get in touch with your dentist asap!

thanks diff, i will call them see if there is anything they can do, it feels like a deep down pain, the tooth and the one next to it are v sensitive but beyond this its like a gnawing that seems to go into the bone and my whole head on that side is throbbing. as i only had it done yesterday i think they will probably say leave it til monday? but i dont know. i cant believe i am still in this much pain after the treatment tbh! had to phone in sick again. nightmare.

It sounds like it needs opening up & the pressure realising, or that there is still something in there which needs to come out.

I hope they see you, ime they should.

Ugh, napoleona, that sounds awful. I totally sympathise. At least mine is only really bad at night. Did you see a specialist? I ask because my NHS dentist made a real hash of mine and I had to be sent to a private endodontist (this is after 3 NHS dentists and the emergency service had seen me). :(

I was going to suggest going to the emergency dental service but TBH they will only give you more antibiotics. I also had dihydrocodeine but it was useless and just made me feel spacey.

I presume you have been given metronidazole? It's a bit more effective than amoxycillin, I think.

I really hope you feel better soon.

I rang the endo this morning and told it was perfectly normal to be in this pain but to ring if it wasn't better after the weekend (2 weeks seems like the standard recovery). It was a bastard of a job to do (four roots, and difficult ones) so I expect that's what it is.

Thanks for the advice and I send healing vibes to anyone suffering! There is no worse pain. At least with childbirth you get a DC at the end!

(By the way my normal dentist wouldn't see me, (rationale being that ther eis nothing he can do) so I have to trek all the way to this private guy if I need treatment). :(

Hi Nanas, hope you are feeling ok and not too sore at the mo! I decided to see if i can get through today and if i have another bad night i will call the dentist first thing in the morning - i have tried really hard not to take too many painkillers today so i have managed to go four hours in between doses so thats good (its throbbing away now tho!) I went to a private dentist - my previous was nhs and was a right botch job. this one is costing me so much money i have had to cancel direct debits for bills this month! But the dentist seems really good and didnt hurt me at all when he did it, was very good at reassuring etc. i have a feeling that this is going to turn into a saga and i will prob end up having the tooth pulled out - its a front one! i say this because it hasnt gone well so far and i cant see what else they can do. the antibiotics i am taking (nearly finished them now, are amoxillin and metranidazole - wow they make you feel crap!!) i think after 10 days you could expect to be sleeping ok and not being woken up in pain but i guess every tooth is different, i really hope it all settles for you. meanwhile, i will pray for a good night for myself and carry on with the soup diet!! you are right in that there is no worse pain, i have had 2 kids and i would much rather be having labour pains!!

Napoleona, just make sure you don't have the same problem that I had.

I hope you feel better soon. What a nightmare! Keep us updated with how you get on.

Might be worth asking whether you have the same thing as jalopy...jalopy, glad you got it sorted in the end. Sounds nasty.

Mine is starting to hurt again...just before bedime. Joy. I have some amoxycillin not used yet so I might start those tomorrow.

Hope you get some sleep! Check in with us tomorrow.

Could it be that you have an infection? If it is swollen and/or fever you might need anti-biotics. I had that after a root canal and I ended up with infected jaw bone (very nasty!), so don't wait too long before getting it checked.

so...went back to the dentist yesterday , they re did the root treatment again (without anaesthetic - apparently you cannot numb infected area) but could see no infection in the 'canals' i raised the possibility of allergy as it certainly felt like burning throbbing pain, the dentist ruled this out as he took out the dressings and had a good look. so then he said all he could suggest was to take a weeks worth of antibiotics. i pointed out that i had just finished that morning a ten day course of 2 types of antibiotics. so then we was really flummoxed. luckily for me they have an endodontist working there who said he would take a look. so he 'took a look' and basically found that all my jawbone was infected right up to parallel with my nose!! he removed some of it (wow that was scary - i cant explain to you what he did i kept my eyes firmly shut) he basically found two large abscesses at the centre of the infection and was able to get one of them, the other i will have to go back for (gulp) as its harder to reach. so im now still in some pain but not as horrendous as before. and i feel rather shell shoked that i had this extensive infection going on. i have had some bad nasal problems over the last year or so too so i think this may be related. my previous dentist gave me 3 lots of anti biotics over the last year when the infection blew up on different occasions. if i hadnt changed my dentist to a private one i hate to think what might have happened, it seems that with dentists the only way to go is private, i am dreading the bill for this (we are not well off) but will have to pay in instalments!!! im going to write a letter of complaint to the NHS dentists and the ombudsman too. as i think they should have picked up the seriousness of this. no wonder i felt so ill!! wish me luck for stage 2 next week, will be glad to get rid of the pain at last. so you were right dikkertjedap and thanks for everyones help. hope Nanas you get sorted soon xx

napoleona Oh my God, that's scary!I can't belive that they didn't spot this; wouldn't an x-ray have shown it up?

Poor you- that sounds horrible. I hope the second lot of treatment works. I think you're right- with more complex treatments private seems to be the only option. A friend of mine told me that NHS dentists basically refuse to do complex root canals in case they bugger them up.

A letter of complaint sounds useful; the least they can do is give you your money back. (I paid £200 for mine plus £16 every time I had an emergency appointment.And this is the NHS! 'Free' healthcare, my arse.)

In total I have paid over £1k for this root canal plus another £1,500 for more crowns. gulp

Sorry you've had to put up with this and I'm so glad they've got to the bottom of it. Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Mine is a little better (I'm sleeping) but painful when I bite down. Have cracked open the amoxycilin and will stick to soup and Slimfast for a while until it stops hurting.

Thanks for the update. Hope you feel a lot better soon. x

I had some root canal treatment when dd was nearly 1. It took 13 appointments to finish the treatment. Each time he thought he'd got rid of the problem it came back. Fortunately it was done within the 12 months, so on the NHS. The crown wasn't, as I didn't want a metal one.