You’ve all heard about my teeth problems for months . . actually, going on years. I got two crowns almost two years ago and they were nothing but trouble. I saw a dentist in Abilene. She recommended root canals on the two crowns. I got a new dentist here in town and he recommended root canals. I went to San Angelo and had one root canal. Went back to San Angelo and had the other root canal. Teeth still hurt. The endodontist in San Angelo re-did both root canals. So, that’s four root canals on two teeth in about a five month period. The teeth still hurt so in October, I finally convinced the dentist here to pull the one that was about to drive me nuts.
The other one continued to hurt .. only if you touched it. If food touched it; if a toothbrush touched it; if the bottom tooth touched it. I cannot chew on that side. I cannot even let my teeth touch when I’m talking because it hurts. Heck, when I’m chewing on the left side, half the time I swallow the food before it’s all the way chewed because if you chew it down too much, the two back teeth on the right side touch and it’s painful.
The dentist here probably hates to see my name on his patient list each day. He has ground and adjusted that crown at least four times to get rid of spots where it’s hitting the bottom tooth wrong.
When I went in October for my cleaning and checkup, they found a cavity. He’s so busy, I was given an appointment in February to get the cavity fixed.
This morning I had been out with the chickens and Cat and visiting Boots. I came in and the phone was ringing. It was the dentist. It was 8:22 a.m. They wanted to know if I could come in this morning to get the cavity fixed. They had a cancellation. Sure. What time? Can you be here at 9? Hmmm . . I’m at least 20 minutes from their office and I still had on pajamas. Sure .. I can do that. I made it with 5 minutes to spare.
I told him that I seriously want that tooth (#2) pulled. I just cannot stand it any longer. I could tell he wasn’t willing to do it. He fixed the cavity, which was actually three spots on two neighboring teeth, then he started working on the bad crown. He had me bite down and then, he said “I’ve never seen that before!” He told his assistant “I’ve been messing with this tooth for over a year and I’ve never seen it hitting like it’s hitting now.” He said to me “You cannot chew on that side at all, can you?” Duhh . . that’s’ what I’ve been telling you!
He probably spent 30 minutes or more buffing off high spots, having me chomp down on the carbon paper, grinding down some more, chomping down some more.
I’m cautiously optimistic. I think it may be at a point where I can live with it! I can bite all the way down. I can put my teeth together. It’s a bit sore from all the grinding he did but he may have just saved tooth #2.
He’s an older guy and I’m betting at some point he retires and we have to find another dentist but right now, I’m very, very grateful for what he did to that tooth this morning. And, it’s nice to have the cavities fixed too. I’ve had probably a dozen crowns in the last 20 years but I think those are the first cavities I’ve had in many, many years.
Penny says
Several yrs ago I had a tooth crowned & had the same experience as you! I was miserable with that tooth almost all the hours I was awake & many times pain would wake me during the night. My dentist tried many times to solve the problem but didn’t. Finally I agreed to a root canal. When the endodontest examined my tooth he said he thought I had some points hitting that shouldn’t & he would like to file them before he did an actual root canal. He did file the tooth & suggest that I wait a week before I had the root canal. Yay! Problem solved! What a great Dr. especially that he didn’t just do a root canal but did a simple inexpensive fix instead of his specialty ~ an expensive root canal!
Susan says
My dentist is older, too, though he has every modern thing possible in his office. I love him! He sounds a lot like Joel Osteen -the voice and accent. He’s the kindest man, great sense of humor, and he has been terrific with me for the last 5 years, waiting patiently for payment, taking my truly awful insurance, just a blessing in my life. All his office people are great, too. I’m so glad he figured this out for you and was able to make it better. I’m glad there was a cancellation today!