AAAAGH!!!!!!Agonising toothache in potentially failed root canal [sad]

[BoffinMum]

Had root canal in 2007. Now in great pain. Feels like poker in side of head and up side of face. Tooth tender.
Taken codeine phosphate 30mg, amoxycillin prescribed by dentist on Friday, 1000mg paracetemol.
Have cold pack on head and ice cubes in mouth but nothing will make pain go away.
Dentist took xray and he will talk to endodontist when she is in next week about whether we can avoid extraction.
Advice needed from anyone who works with teeth or who has survived similar experience.
I am a very Boff tonight.

It's impossible to say without seeing the tooth & x rays. You are right though, success rate drops with every attempt. Be reminded that they may find a fracture line etc which makes the tooth unrestorable.

Fingers crossed.

Come with me, Grumpy, and hold my hand. Are you a RL dentist-related person?

I am a RL dentist but tbh I am quite grumpy so you might not like me. Well, I say grumpy, I'm quite matter of fact and don't fanny around much but my nurse says I'm good so I'm happy! I don't mind root canal treatment but retreatment is a killer so that would make me grumpy if nothing else!!

Endo (root canal treatment) specialists are on the whole amazingly talented so you sound like you're in good hands!! They are usually really patient as well!!

She is great, my endo, but I am a woos when it comes to dental things generally, since the time it took 6 injections to give me a filling (I think I have a wierd nerve).

I would rather have a grumpy good dentist than a cheerful bad one btw!

Ouch. I always take painkillers before the dentist. Hope you have a pain-free week (but that there's still some pus so as not anticlimax )

Grumpy, hope the foxes are quiet tonight, important that dentists operating drills etc get good rest!

The pain has completely gone, plus the nagging feeling of general ill health that was there in the background, so I think the antibiotics made a massive difference to whatever was brewing down there. If it wasn't for the fact that everyone seems to be advising me to get the root canal treated again, I would ignore it all and hope for the best, but I imagine that the pain will recur annually if I don't do anything, and I would be much more likely to lose the tooth in the medium to long term.

Grumpy, I have the greatest respect for you guys. It's a really difficult job and very demanding. Plus lots of gore.

Is good that the pain has gone with antibiotics-mine didn't hence removal of tooth. I also had a gum boil-and when it burst the taste was like battery acid (not that I know what that tastes of.) The dentist did give me the option of doing nothing if infection cleared-some people find this does work (bit of a gamble though.)

Too much of a gamble! It's best to get it fixed on your terms, not have a holiday/Xmas/birthday ruined by pain!!

OK, that makes sense.
A question about the gum boil belonging to ebbandflow. I am wondering why it would taste of battery acid? Are they in actual fact acidic?? What would be the chemical composition of the inside of a gum boil? (Sorry, quite a boffin sort of question, I know1)

Pus is acidic. Infection is acidic which is why it's sometimes hard to numb up infected teeth as the anaesthetic works best at neutral pH.

Oooh, that's really interesting.

You would think pus would be alkaline, wouldn't you? Then it would kill the infection better.

Grumpy, two things I am wondering. Do you think people in their 40s have worse teeth than younger people? I remember having a lot of drill and fill in my early years that my kids simply don't have inflicted on them. I am wondering if the fillings have made my teeth more prone to needing things like root canal treatment in later life. Secondly, do you think more people are teeth grinding amongst your patients than there used to be? I read an article about it recently and the authors seemed to think it was on the increase.

I treat quite a specific demographic of patients so it's hard to comment but i would say that I see lots of children with cavities and their parents blame the child for eating sweets.

My dad had drill & fill but my mum didnt so it's a mixed bag I think.

I think my kids eat more sweet stuff than I did ... I remember every time you went to the dentist he would push a sharp stick thing in the molars and then say "That's soft, that needs filling" and you'd have to have the thing filled, without anaesthetic as well! I wonder if poking the stick in the tooth caused the damage in the first place. I don't think the dentist ever did x-rays, by the way.

Update ... have had partial root canal in same place as previously, endo went down as far as she possibly could this time, it worked really well and I think we may have saved the tooth. Thanks for all advice last month.