Expert: Jeff Dalin DDS - 9/17/2006

Question
Hello Drs.

I just had a root canal re-treatment done on the bottom left, second tooth from the back (still have wisdom)...  The experience was horrible and now 3 days later, I'm wondering if what I'm experiencing is normal...  First of all, outside gum beside the tooth is white and all shredded and continually bleeding (slowly)... If I put my tongue on the top of the temporary filling and push ever so slightly, I get a jolt of pain that's incredible...  I've been on 500mg 3 times a day of Anaprox (naproxen) for the pain but I'm still getting a dull pain continually...  This is only the first part of the root canal and I'm supposed to return on Oct 3rd for the balance of the treatment to finish the tooth...  The injections were awful (about 30 of them) and it sent jolts of pain through my tongue and made my heart race but the doctor didn't stop and just ignored me so now I'm afraid of going back!!!  Before doing this, I saw a handful of dentists and they all told me not to worry, in this day and age dentistry is painless...  This endodontist had me screaming the chair for almost 2 hours...  Is any of this normal practice?  Before this re-treatment, the only pain I had was a little swelling on the side of my gum from the infection underneath but I could still bite hard on the tooth, now I can't even put a tiny bit of tongue pressure on it without screaming and all these pain killers are making me ill, along with 1500mg of antibiotics...  Is it normal to get 30 needles?  Is it normal to have my gum shredded?  Is it normal to have huge amounts of pain? Is it normal to not be able to put tongue pressure (very slight) after half a treatment?  Everyone is telling me that I need to give it a week and if it's not good, then I should complain...  I think differently or the proceedure is not worth the effort and it's better to have it extracted and be done with it, let alone the $1800.00 price tag to save the tooth, the $1100.00 for the initial root canal and another $600.00 in assorted opinions...  Your opinion would be greatly appreciated... Sincerely, Dave

Answer
Dave
you point out a lot of troubling points here. i am not happy to read what you have said here. first off, it sounds like your tooth is getting infected. you need to be on some antibiotics. now here goes with the tough answers: you should never have that sort of pain. there is something wrong here. you also should never need 30 shots. what you need to do here is see a different endodontist. none of what you said is "normal". you should not have to wait one more day here. but maybe consider seeing a different root canal dentist. maybe there is something about this tooth that makes it impossible to retreat. in that case an extraction may be the better idea. call a different dentist tomorrow! good luck...let me know if you have any other questions. i hope i answered all of your questions here.

jeff dalin, dds