For several months I went through horrible pain until finally I went to the emergency room for a severe ear infection. The doctor gave me prescription drops for my ear and sent me home. I went a few more weeks and my ear infection wasn’t any better. Finally I thought that perhaps it wasn’t my ear, it was my teeth. I went to the dentist and here’s what I needed: six cavities filled, two root canals and a possible root fracture.
See I had been pregnant for the past 10 months and couldn’t get x-rays. The only x-ray that can detect the need for a root canal is only done about once every five years. Usually a root canal can be fixed with a cavity if it’s in its early stages. The root canal that I was supposed to have done on my wisdom tooth was fixed with a filling. I was supposed to have the tooth pulled all together but I haven’t had any problems or pain and it’s been about one year since the problem occured.
My other tooth badly needed a root canal. They set me up an appointment for about one month later. After already dealing with this pain which I thought was an ear infection, I couldn’t wait one month. After a week I called the dentist, crying. I told them I would take a gunshot to the head before I would deal with this pain any longer and they told me to come in right away. The pain was worse than child birth. As soon as they gave me the shot I felt instant relief. I never felt pain again after the root canal was done. If the root canal is done right you wont have sensitivy to cold foods because there is no nerve left. They simply take what looks like a brush and clear out all of the nerves from your tooth. You might have two typical nerves or in my case there might be a third nerve hiding that they need to find.
They will then put a post in the nerve to hold on the crown which is a fake tooth that will fit over your stub that you have left of your tooth. If there is nothing left of your tooth you will need a bridge which is a tooth on wire held in place by your other teeth. After my root canal was done, they gave me a temporary filling which was meant to let everything drain so it wasn’t infected or in pain any longer. After about another week my tooth hurt even worse and I went back to the dentist to find that my temporary filled was crushed and lodged inside my gums.
After switching dentist offices and having the crown put on the right way, I haven’t had any more problems. I have spent roughly $2,000 having the tooth fixed which I had to take out a credit card for. The pain was unbelievable. If you think you have an ear infection and it wont go away after prescription drops, you will need to have your teeth checked out for a possible root canal procedure.
