Tag Archives: Tooth Pain

Emergency Dentist

Is Needing a Root Canal a Dental Emergency?

If a tooth needs a root canal treatment but doesn’t have any pain, is it a dental emergency or can it wait? On that note, if it can wait, how long can it wait?

Tyson

Dear Tyson,

Root Canal Treatment

This is kind of tricky to answer because I have not examined your tooth. I think, however, I can give you some general guidelines. If the tooth is hurting in any way (which you say yours is not) then, I would consider it a dental emergency and you would need to get treatment as soon as possible. You would not necessarily need to schedule it for that day, but as soon as they can.

I would say that if it starts hurting again, go in fairly soon as well. Both of those scenarios indicate that you have an active tooth infection that needs to be treated. Dental infections spread and can blow up pretty quickly. You do not want it spreading to your heart, lungs, or brain, all of which are close to your jaw.

If it is not hurting and has not for a while, you should be able to wait. I had a colleague who had a patient with a tooth that needed a root canal that waited several years. This was only possible because the infection was not active.

What was interesting to me about this case is that apparently, even though the infection wasn’t active, the fact that it had been infected was having an impact on his health. The patient felt unexplainably worn down all the time, even though he was getting enough sleep and his thyroid levels were good. The cause turned out to be the tooth. After he had his root canal treatment, he told my colleague that he felt better than he had in a while.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA dentists Drs. Foreman and Thimmesch.

Invisalign

Tooth pain with Invisalign

I am on my fifth set of aligners with invisalign. I’m having pretty bad tooth pain. My dentist wondered if I could have a leaky filling. He wants to remove it and put in a temporary filling to see how it does. Do you think this is OK?

Brenda L.- Washington

Brenda,

There could be a few things going on. First, and a very probable one, is uncomfortableness from orthodontic work. Whenever you are moving your teeth, it doesn’t matter if you’re using Invisalign or traditional metal braces, your teeth can become painful because of sensitivity to pressure. Your teeth are shifting and then have to reform the bone over the tooth root.

A second possible reason for the pain in your tooth is what your dentist is suggesting. You could have a defective filling. It is not uncommon for amalgam (silver) fillings to begin to crack and leak.  He’ll put a temporary filling in and seal your teeth better. In a fair amount of time it will feel better, if that was the problem.

A third reason could be that your tooth is infected. You may want your dentist to do an x-ray to eliminate an infection.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette Louisiana dentist Dr. Mike Malone.

Uncategorized

Why do I have pain after getting a filling?

Ten days ago I had a white composite filling placed in one of my molars. Almost immediately, I started feeling really extreme pain in my jaw, radiating up to the top of my head and down to my neck, on the same side as the new filling. I’m getting by taking Motrin constantly, but this can’t go on. Other than labor, this is the most severe pain I have ever felt.

My dentist said it might be from grinding my teeth, so I bought an appliance that is supposed to help, but it didn’t. He then tried to adjust my bite by grinding off some teeth, but that  didn’t help at all, either.

This CAN’T be normal! I really think I need a second opinion, but what type of specialist should I see?

Thanks,

Leatha in Connecticut

Dear Leatha,

Teeth grinding does not sound like the culprit behind your pain.

Many different things can produce pain in a tooth, and dentists typically try to find what types of things create or worsen pain. Constant, very serious pain usually mean the tooth has an infection. If the pain is provoked by cold but then recedes when the tooth warms up, most likely it is just an irritation and not an infection. Pain while biting can mean a bite that is out of adjustment, or an abscess, or an infected ligament holding the tooth to the bone.

So, the source of your pain may a variety of things. Pain immediately following a filling could mean an undetected infection was present and it has now worsened, or that an improper technique was used to place the white composite filling.

A second opinion is definitely in order. You don’t necessarily need any kind of specialist, just a good general dentist.

This blog post courtesy of Lafayette Louisiana cosmetic dentist Dr. Mike Malone.

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