I need some help for my poor husband who is suffering and in great pain. He had an injury which caused some pretty bad damage to teeth number eight and nine, as well as his head. He was treated at the ER and then we went to a dentist. The dentist wanted to wait two weeks for everything to calm down before doing anything. When we returned, the number eight tooth had turned dark but the dentist said there was only dried blood there and she didn’t think it needed a root canal treatment. She did a temporary crown. Then, a couple of weeks later the permanent one was bonded on. Barely a month later he was in excruciating pain. We went back to our dentist who gave him five days’ worth of amoxicillin and did the root canal treatment a week later. The pain did not go away so she root-canaled the tooth next to it, which I think was a totally unnecessary treatment. HIs pain still hasn’t gone away. He is still in pain. I don’t feel like he is getting good treatment. What do I do for him now?

Angela

Dear Angela,

You obviously know this already, but your husband has received quite poor care from your dentist. Let’s start with the original, “It doesn’t need anything.” What did she think was going on when the tooth turned dark?

The second real issue I see is the way the root canal treatment itself was handled. First, she didn’t give him enough antibiotics to make it through to the treatment, which means the infection will flare back up. Then she did the treatment itself which risks closing the infection in.

Finally, when the pain didn’t go away, instead of thinking maybe the root canal treatment failed, she treats the tooth next to it that had no pain. That is incompetence on a whole new level.

My recommendation is you call an endodontist. They are root canal specialists. Let them know what has been going on so you can get an emergency appointment.

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