Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
I was suppose to schedule a root canal three weeks ago, but I got sick and laid in bed for the better part of two weeks. Now that I'm better, the tooth has stopped hurting. The dentist (he was not going to do the procedure himself but was going to refer me to an oral surgeon) said the x-ray didn't show a problem anyway and described the pain I was experiencing as being the result of a "tricky nerve" (I'm not sure if that's the actual technical term). I had thought of forgoing the procedure as soon as he told me the actual tooth was okay. I figure if there's no real problem there I could eventually convince my pain receptors that they were firing unnecessarily and to just cut it out, already. Evidently, they have.
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This happened to me before my first root canal - I had tooth pain that finally built to a level that convinced me to visit the dentist, then it would vanish, then come back, etc. When it finally stopped going away I went in - it was an abscess that developed beneath an old composite filling - which would become inflamed and then subside (probably b/c the pain made me chew on the other side of my mouth).
Moral of story: if you can afford it, get the root canal done - it will stop the pain forever, and give you one less tooth to worry about.
(Dennis - every time I have a serious dental episode, I count my remaining teeth and contemplate going the denture route. Getting closer.)