Occasional sharp pain when eating

[Peter2019]

This tooth is in the upper back area of the jaw. It first had a crown installed many years ago and more recently had root canal . On three separate occasions now , when eating , I had a very sharp pain in that tooth . When not eating it is fine and doesn't hurt and doesn't always hurt even when eating. What could be causing this ? Is it safe to go to the dentist with this problem now with Covid 19 ? I did go for a check up and cleaning not too long ago but this started happening afterwards. Can I wait till after Covid-19 with this ? Does the risk outweigh the benefit of going now ?

 

[honestdoc]

Have your dentist perio probe around the gums to detect any vertical root fracture. Undetectable root fractures will show up after a few weeks so if the pain is recent, probings may not pick up.

 

[Peter2019]

Have your dentist perio probe around the gums to detect any vertical root fracture. Undetectable root fractures will show up after a few weeks so if the pain is recent, probings may not pick up.

Hello honestdoc,

So I wanted to keep you informed as to what is happening with me. I went to my dentist this morning and she took a couple of x-rays. X-rays showed up nothing. She then filed down a couple of spots on that tooth. She said for me to wait and see what happens. If the tooth becomes bothersome it will have to be removed and replaced with an implant. She said that a specialist would charge $6000 Canadian for this but she could do it for $4000 Canadian and I would also get a 15% discount as well. She said that I might be able to get another 10-15 years out of that tooth. Her advice was to wait and see, not urgent at this time. Oh and she did probe around my gums as well.

 

[honestdoc]

Hello honestdoc,

So I wanted to keep you informed as to what is happening with me. I went to my dentist this morning and she took a couple of x-rays. X-rays showed up nothing. She then filed down a couple of spots on that tooth. She said for me to wait and see what happens. If the tooth becomes bothersome it will have to be removed and replaced with an implant. She said that a specialist would charge $6000 Canadian for this but she could do it for $4000 Canadian and I would also get a 15% discount as well. She said that I might be able to get another 10-15 years out of that tooth. Her advice was to wait and see, not urgent at this time. Oh and she did probe around my gums as well.

I favor the least traumatic option of wait and see. How you know it is going bad is pain and or swelling. If you experience neither, continue to monitor. Probing on recent fractures will not reveal anything. It may take a few weeks for vertical root fractures to lose gum attachments.

 

[Peter2019]

I favor the least traumatic option of wait and see. How you know it is going bad is pain and or swelling. If you experience neither, continue to monitor. Probing on recent fractures will not reveal anything. It may take a few weeks for vertical root fractures to lose gum attachments.

"pain and or swelling" When eating or even when not eating ? If it is pain when not eating that's when the real trouble starts. I know because I already went through this with another tooth 20 years ago. It too had root canal and a crown but needed to be removed when it started hurting and not when I was eating. At that time I opted for a bridge instead of an implant but this time I would go with an implant. Which do you favour, implants or bridges but hopefully I won't need either one, lol

 

[honestdoc]

"pain and or swelling" When eating or even when not eating ? If it is pain when not eating that's when the real trouble starts. I know because I already went through this with another tooth 20 years ago. It too had root canal and a crown but needed to be removed when it started hurting and not when I was eating. At that time I opted for a bridge instead of an implant but this time I would go with an implant. Which do you favour, implants or bridges but hopefully I won't need either one, lol

Good questions. You had experience with tooth pain before so this hopefully this gets resolved. I prefer implants over bridges because good adjacent teeth gets drilled (prepped) to hold the bridge. I've seen bridges fail and you can lose those adjacent teeth as well. Implants are very expensive but it does not involve any other teeth. They can fail too so it is best to find an experienced team of restorative dentist and surgeon.

 

[Peter2019]

So I have been fine for 12 days now since I went to see the dentist. Yesterday I was eating peanuts and experienced the most excruciating pain that I have ever experienced in that tooth that I went to see the dentist about. The dentist took x rays and could see no problem at that time. So what should I do now ? To make matters even worse, we just went into a 30 day pandemic lock down, where I live in Ontario, Canada.

 

[honestdoc]

Don't chew on the tooth. Have the dentist evaluate it (perio probe, tooth sleuth adjacent non-crowned teeth) after the lock down. Make sure you are not experiencing swelling.

 

[Peter2019]

Don't chew on the tooth. Have the dentist evaluate it (perio probe, tooth sleuth adjacent non-crowned teeth) after the lock down. Make sure you are not experiencing swelling.

So my dentist wants to refer me to a root canal specialist but I don't see why I would need to go there, because I have already had root canal work done on that tooth ? I prefer to wait and see .