Root Canal or Pull the tooth?

Bo

Bo

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
Hi guys ,

I had a question:

On the 24th of February my dentist replaced a filling which was needed (well according to him anyway - Also my dentist uses BioSafe fillings). So far no big deal. However 1 too 2 weeks later I started to feel some numbness, pressure, similar to the aneasthethics. So I was thinking perhaps due to the trauma of drilling into the same tooth again the nerve got damaged, maybe it will heal. So I used a lot of VIT C, NAC, ALA which cleared the problem within 2 days.

Now 3 days ago that same numbness started, which ended in an increased sharp pulsating pain that flows through my lower left jaw but seemingly originating from that same tooth that had a filling replacement. Also the area next to my chin seems to have swollen up a bit as well. Thought not really noticable with the naked eye, I can tell it is.

The pain was/is so intense I have not been able to sleep for 3 days now. I have tried almost everything. Overdose on VIT C did nothing except a tiny relieve of pain. NAC didn't seem to have any effect. Even smearing DMSO on my cheek 3 times a day(did this yesterday) did not help.

The only thing that helped me actually sleep for 4 hours last night was taking 2x 500mg of Parecetamols. Anyway I gave up and called my Dentist for an appointment for next week so he can check out what the problem exactly is.

And here comes my question:

If the matter of root canal comes up next week, should I decline it? Because from what I have been reading is that getting a root canal is VERY bad. So I am assuming that pulling a tooth is the better alternative?
 
Well, I have 8 root canals. Yeah, not optimal, but it's even worse to not have teeth. Everything starts moving and deteriorating. So I would try to save the tooth as a resident in your jaw and spacer for other teeth. Perhaps what you need is what I was given when this happened: a good course of metronidazole. You may even have the beginnings of autoimmune issues. See the related thread. Dental problems always seem to go with it.
 
Laura said:
Well, I have 8 root canals. Yeah, not optimal, but it's even worse to not have teeth. Everything starts moving and deteriorating. So I would try to save the tooth as a resident in your jaw and spacer for other teeth. Perhaps what you need is what I was given when this happened: a good course of metronidazole. You may even have the beginnings of autoimmune issues. See the related thread. Dental problems always seem to go with it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Laura,

Wow 8 root canals! I can't imagine the torture you must have endured for that. I will have the tooth saved then, when and if it comes to it.

Will also talk about getting metronidazole next week with the dentist and read through the autoimmune disease thread.
 
Bo said:
Laura said:
Well, I have 8 root canals. Yeah, not optimal, but it's even worse to not have teeth. Everything starts moving and deteriorating. So I would try to save the tooth as a resident in your jaw and spacer for other teeth. Perhaps what you need is what I was given when this happened: a good course of metronidazole. You may even have the beginnings of autoimmune issues. See the related thread. Dental problems always seem to go with it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Laura,

Wow 8 root canals! I can't imagine the torture you must have endured for that. I will have the tooth saved then, when and if it comes to it.

Will also talk about getting metronidazole next week with the dentist and read through the autoimmune disease thread.
Click to expand...

I didn't have them ALL at once! I had one 36 years ago and it has never given me a minute's trouble. I only had the crown installed about 7 years ago... all those years with just a temporary filling and it was fine! Then I had another back in 2004, another in about 2006, and then five at once about three years ago or so. There was no torture involved in any of them, in fact. Yes, going to the dentist is NOT the most pleasant thing in the world, but I have been lucky with good dentists who take care that I experience no pain.
 
Hello Bo,

When I was a child, I had a masochist for a dentist. From then on, I was scared to death of them. Even now, when I hear a jet printer, I sweat bullets and feel queezy. One day, a very nice lady dentist asked my point blank. "Looks like the only time you see a dentist is when you yank a tooth. Maybe you should try to keep them?" She was good and from then on I did try, but, the years of neglect had already taken it's toll.

I have no molars on my bottom jaw, one(1) molar upper left and two(2) molars upper right. I still eat pounds of crispy BACON though.!.!.!

What I am trying to say is you may want to try to keep your teeth. You are young and years from now when you may be trying to keep other body parts intact, you will still have teeth.

I know this is not a funny situation, but when I think of that childhood dentist, I cannot help by think of this. The dentist from the movie Little Shop of Horrors:

_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOtMizMQ6oM

At least to brighten up your day...
 
Laura said:
Bo said:
Laura said:
Well, I have 8 root canals. Yeah, not optimal, but it's even worse to not have teeth. Everything starts moving and deteriorating. So I would try to save the tooth as a resident in your jaw and spacer for other teeth. Perhaps what you need is what I was given when this happened: a good course of metronidazole. You may even have the beginnings of autoimmune issues. See the related thread. Dental problems always seem to go with it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Laura,

Wow 8 root canals! I can't imagine the torture you must have endured for that. I will have the tooth saved then, when and if it comes to it.

Will also talk about getting metronidazole next week with the dentist and read through the autoimmune disease thread.
Click to expand...

I didn't have them ALL at once! I had one 36 years ago and it has never given me a minute's trouble. I only had the crown installed about 7 years ago... all those years with just a temporary filling and it was fine! Then I had another back in 2004, another in about 2006, and then five at once about three years ago or so. There was no torture involved in any of them, in fact. Yes, going to the dentist is NOT the most pleasant thing in the world, but I have been lucky with good dentists who take care that I experience no pain.
Click to expand...

That is really good to hear, hopefully I will be lucky with this current dentist, since all my previous ones were reincarnations of Satan :P.


When I was a child, I had a masochist for a dentist. From then on, I was scared to death of them. Even now, when I hear a jet printer, I sweat bullets and feel queezy. One day, a very nice lady dentist asked my point blank. "Looks like the only time you see a dentist is when you yank a tooth. Maybe you should try to keep them?" She was good and from then on I did try, but, the years of neglect had already taken it's toll.
Click to expand...

I know the feeling! I have some pretty horrific memories of dentists as well, one being an illegal old looking dude working from his garage (gotta bless my dad for managing to find the most corrupt dentists for his kids) and some German dentist facility that seemed to rotate between dentists, like every time you went there it was like pulling out a lottery ticket and hoping the new guy is better then the last guy.


I know this is not a funny situation, but when I think of that childhood dentist, I cannot help by think of this. The dentist from the movie Little Shop of Horrors:

_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOtMizMQ6oM

At least to brighten up your day...
Click to expand...

LOL!
 
Bo said:
Hi guys ,

I had a question:

On the 24th of February my dentist replaced a filling which was needed (well according to him anyway - Also my dentist uses BioSafe fillings). So far no big deal. However 1 too 2 weeks later I started to feel some numbness, pressure, similar to the aneasthethics. So I was thinking perhaps due to the trauma of drilling into the same tooth again the nerve got damaged, maybe it will heal. So I used a lot of VIT C, NAC, ALA which cleared the problem within 2 days.

Now 3 days ago that same numbness started, which ended in an increased sharp pulsating pain that flows through my lower left jaw but seemingly originating from that same tooth that had a filling replacement. Also the area next to my chin seems to have swollen up a bit as well. Thought not really noticable with the naked eye, I can tell it is.

The pain was/is so intense I have not been able to sleep for 3 days now. I have tried almost everything. Overdose on VIT C did nothing except a tiny relieve of pain. NAC didn't seem to have any effect. Even smearing DMSO on my cheek 3 times a day(did this yesterday) did not help.

The only thing that helped me actually sleep for 4 hours last night was taking 2x 500mg of Parecetamols. Anyway I gave up and called my Dentist for an appointment for next week so he can check out what the problem exactly is.

And here comes my question:

If the matter of root canal comes up next week, should I decline it? Because from what I have been reading is that getting a root canal is VERY bad. So I am assuming that pulling a tooth is the better alternative?
Click to expand...

It sounds like an abscess! and they're very painful! Metronidazole will definitely kill the infection! When taking metronidazole would it be a good idea to take probiotics along side? I'm not sure if when I was taking them it was due to the infection (abscess) going away, but the metro' made me come out in rashes and all kinds of side effects.

Best of luck with your trip to the dentist :)
 
Can someone help me understand what to do if you already have root-canaled teeth?

AFAIK, a root-canaled tooth is, supposedly, esentially dead and harbors many bacteria which then get to the bloodstream causing chaos on your body. I'm searching for biological dentists where I live but I'm still confused as to what to do when you have root-canals. Thank you
 
What about an implant replacement tooth?

Also, you might be getting ahead of yourself since the dentist hasn't recommended a root canal yet.

Seems a bit odd that the dentist couldn't squeeze you in this week given your extreme pain.
 
hlat said:
What about an implant replacement tooth?

Also, you might be getting ahead of yourself since the dentist hasn't recommended a root canal yet.

Seems a bit odd that the dentist couldn't squeeze you in this week given your extreme pain.
Click to expand...

The problem with root-canal treatment is that it doesn't get rid of the underlying infection completely. What root canal does is it kills the nerve so you don't experience any pain anymore. During the root-canal treatment the dentist puts some antibiotics down the opened root canal, but how effective this is I don't know. So after a treatment you still might have some low-grade chronic infection. True, metronidazole might take care of that, but it's hard to know.

The problem is that your options are quite limited at this stage. There are two:
1) Get the root canal done and see how you go.
2) Pull the tooth, let the infection and the bone heal and later on get an implant.

The second option is very expensive and has it's risks too (pain, infection). So this is a hard one. I am not sure which option I would choose if I were in your shoes ...
 
Lilyalic said:
Bo said:
--snip--
Click to expand...

It sounds like an abscess! and they're very painful! Metronidazole will definitely kill the infection!
Click to expand...

The pain has greatly subsided today. Yesterday it was like a 9/10. Today a 2/10. And it might be an abscess, I am not 100% sure yet. I will get to know next tuesday.

When taking metronidazole would it be a good idea to take probiotics along side? I'm not sure if when I was taking them it was due to the infection (abscess) going away, but the metro' made me come out in rashes and all kinds of side effects.

Best of luck with your trip to the dentist :)
Click to expand...

Gaby recommended pro biotics in the related Metronidazole thread Page 2.

Alexa said:
Can someone help me understand what to do if you already have root-canaled teeth?

AFAIK, a root-canaled tooth is, supposedly, esentially dead and harbors many bacteria which then get to the bloodstream causing chaos on your body. I'm searching for biological dentists where I live but I'm still confused as to what to do when you have root-canals. Thank you
Click to expand...

Hi Alexa,

Do you mean that you want a way to deal with your root-canaled teeth? Are they currently causing you problems at the moment?


hlat said:
What about an implant replacement tooth?

Also, you might be getting ahead of yourself since the dentist hasn't recommended a root canal yet.

Seems a bit odd that the dentist couldn't squeeze you in this week given your extreme pain.
Click to expand...

Yeah my dentist wasn't available until next week tuesday, If if wanted I could choose an emergency dentist for today, if the pain was still severe. But it's currently not so I will wait until next week.

nicklebleu said:
hlat said:
What about an implant replacement tooth?

Also, you might be getting ahead of yourself since the dentist hasn't recommended a root canal yet.

Seems a bit odd that the dentist couldn't squeeze you in this week given your extreme pain.
Click to expand...

The problem with root-canal treatment is that it doesn't get rid of the underlying infection completely. What root canal does is it kills the nerve so you don't experience any pain anymore. During the root-canal treatment the dentist puts some antibiotics down the opened root canal, but how effective this is I don't know. So after a treatment you still might have some low-grade chronic infection. True, metronidazole might take care of that, but it's hard to know.

The problem is that your options are quite limited at this stage. There are two:
1) Get the root canal done and see how you go.
2) Pull the tooth, let the infection and the bone heal and later on get an implant.

The second option is very expensive and has it's risks too (pain, infection). So this is a hard one. I am not sure which option I would choose if I were in your shoes ...
Click to expand...

If it comes to it, I am gonna try option 1 with metronidazole. I read in the related thread that you were using metro as well 2 days ago, how is that going for you so far?
 
Alexa said:
Can someone help me understand what to do if you already have root-canaled teeth?

AFAIK, a root-canaled tooth is, supposedly, esentially dead and harbors many bacteria which then get to the bloodstream causing chaos on your body. I'm searching for biological dentists where I live but I'm still confused as to what to do when you have root-canals. Thank you
Click to expand...

Well, like I said, I can only speak from my experience. I got my first one over 30 years ago and it has never given me a minute's trouble. I only recently, in the last few years, had it crowned. The two on the other side are where I have a pocket of irritation/infection that has never seemed to go away completely but it looks like this RA treatment might take care of that and it might be related. The five I had done in the front were not done because there was any problem, but because I had to have a bridge because I lost a tooth to RA/autoimmune related bone loss in the jaw and the only way to have secure chompers right in front is to bridge the canines. .
 
Bo said:
Yeah my dentist wasn't available until next week tuesday, If if wanted I could choose an emergency dentist for today, if the pain was still severe. But it's currently not so I will wait until next week.
Click to expand...

Hi Bo,

After my dental surgery, the doctor recommended me taking either Ketanov or Ketonal for pain killing. Ketanov worked very effective for me. I'm not sure if any of them are available where you are, but if so, you might wish to consider this option. But be careful, it can only be used for a couple of days of the most severe pain, not more, otherwise it can produce unfavorable side effects. Wish you luck with your tooth. :hug2:

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketorolac
 
Just an update that the pain has completely disappeared, including the swelling. There is only a tiny after effect of stiff muscles in my jaw. But other then that it seems to be ''solved''. Just gonna let it check out tomorrow at the dentist, to be 100% sure.

Since my head is more clear now, I was reminded that I had the exact same issue in the exact same spot 5/6 years ago, then it also dissapeared right before my dentist meeting.

Siberia said:
Bo said:
Yeah my dentist wasn't available until next week tuesday, If if wanted I could choose an emergency dentist for today, if the pain was still severe. But it's currently not so I will wait until next week.
Click to expand...

Hi Bo,

After my dental surgery, the doctor recommended me taking either Ketanov or Ketonal for pain killing. Ketanov worked very effective for me. I'm not sure if any of them are available where you are, but if so, you might wish to consider this option. But be careful, it can only be used for a couple of days of the most severe pain, not more, otherwise it can produce unfavorable side effects. Wish you luck with your tooth. :hug2:

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketorolac
Click to expand...

Thanks Siberia, but paracetamol did the trick it seems. I think that my heavy overdose on VIT C might have assisted a lot as well.
 
I've had at least root-canal procedures, the last just six months ago (no crown on this one), another seven years ago, another before that, and none have ever been a perciptible problem for me, but then again, the claim is that bacteria they may protect actually spread bodily. Interestingly, the same endodontist did all my procedures, across all these years -- he does nothing else all day every day. I call his shop a "root-canal factory," which I estimated takes in nearly three million dollars per year for just three doctors, four assistants, and three front-desk personnel. It's quite a business.
 
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