Hi all. I went to the dentist today to complain about pain that I am having on the teeth on the right side of my mouth. The pain I am having rotates between my upper right hand side molars and a lower right hand molar that I have had a root canal and a retreatment on within the past year. The dentist said that my xrays show no cavities and is sending me to an endodontist. I am just afraid that because they cannot see anything on the xrays that they will just want to do either another retreatment or an apicoectomy in order to "investigate". The reason why this worries me is because my top teeth hurt as well and I wonder if it is sinus related and the pain in my upper molars is just aggravating my root canaled tooth. I do not want to have an un-necessary procedure. Especially since I do not have the $850 to replace my crown. Is there a way that I can determine whether my tooth pain is sinus related or tooth related?

Do you have any other symptoms? such as pain in the front of your face, and headaches... do you have post nasal drip? I have pain in my upper teeth and sometimes all of them,also my ears, I think it's from the pressure of the sinuses, when I have a sinus infection and a slight fever, and if I don't see my doc right away it gets worse, nausea ect. I'd go see an ENT doc next just to make sure... he might prescribe an antibiotic and you will feel better, I also try some OTC sinus meds too. Just a suggestion.

Eve have you tried taking Psuedaphed? If there's sinus congestion then psuedaphed should help relieve the pain if it's sinus related.

Hello there,
I have a similar problem or rather similar symptoms. I have had my first left hand lower molar root canaled because of severe facial pain that would shoot up from it into my sinuses. My upper teeth jump about and ache and that side of my face aches. When things are bad, my eye starts to ache and my vision even blurs. It is the neverending story for me.
I went to the ENT and they found nothing so I ended up switching dentists and having new x-rays done. The trigeminal pain was and still sometimes is incredible and the ddt discovered a massive infection that had somehow started in my lower jaw and affected my first molar. So, he has recently root canaled the tooth but it appears that the big black mark on the x-ray reaches down to about 1 mm away from the IAN ... I have very long roots on my molars. He can't seem to explain the connection with my upper teeth and sinus but there is no doubt that the two are connected...the minute he digs around in the lower molar and tries closing it, all hell breaks loose. It could be that any minor inflammation puts pressure on the IAN which then somehow affects the functioning of that side of my face. I am also worried that the infection is so deep that it is classified as osteomyelitis and needs an oral surgeon.
Maybe you have something similar? I am beginning to wonder if I am the type for root canals...this is my third one and all othe previous ones have failed and caused major problems along the way. This is just the icing on the cake and the worst of them so far. Some dentists can't read x-rays...I went to 8 before I found my current ddt who identified the tooth triggering the trigeminal neuralgia and other probs. Try getting another opinion and rule out the ENT problem. Root canaled teeth are septic tanks and sources of numerous problems. If I coulld afford it, I would get whatever tooth that starts to ache pulled and replaced with an implant rather than go through more neuro hell and ENT problems due to root canal procedures.
You may not be the type for root canals either. Most ddts don't bother discussing this with patients because Endodontics is a gold mine.
Take good care

Thanks for your replies everyone. I have been getting headaches, and I do feel pressure down my nose. I don't really have post nasal drip or funny colored nasal discharge. I think I will try the Psuedophed and see what happens. I have a consult appt w/ the Endo tomorrow. I am nervous to see what he says. I seem to expect the worst out of doctors and dentists. Rarely am I pleasantly surprised.

Traumatized, I am sorry for all that you are going through. I am beginning to think that root canals are not for me either. I am like you, if I had the money for an implant I would just have this one pulled. It has already been way too much aggravation. I think I have been having problems with this tooth for atleast two years now. First my filling fell out and it started to hurt, so I got another filling put in. Then it started to hurt again, so I got a root canal. Then it started to hurt again so I got a retreatment. Now it hurts again!!! If I wasn't already missing two teeth on the otherside in the back, I would have it pulled. But I draw my limit at two missing teeth, I am still in my 20's! Currently, I have a partial for them, until I can afford implants. I decided against the bridge because I don't want the two surrounding healthy teeth to be messed with. That just sounds like more problems waiting to happen. Well anyway, good luck to you. I hope that your situation improves.

Good Luck tomorrow Eve, Let me know what the new Endo says! :)

I went to my endo today. He wants to do an apicoectomy. He also said that they biopsy the root to check for a malignancy. Is this common because I didn't expect that. He also said that there is a chance of mouth numbness after the procedure because the root is very close to your nerve. He said that in the hundreds of surgeries that he has done, only one patient had this happen. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Any insight would be very much appreciated, thanks.

Hmm neither Endo i saw said anything about biopsies so i'm not sure. What tooth is it that your having the problems with? My endo's never said anything about facial numbness either, but i suppose that could depend on what tooth they're working on.

I go on Tuesday for my second Apico on the same tooth so i'll ask him about it...

Border3899,

It is tooth number 30 (lower right hand side molar). The endo said that the inferior avelor nerve (I know I spelled that wrong) lies right underneath that area. I am nervous about this because when I had my wisdom tooth (number 32) extracted, the oral surgeon severed something. He thought it was my lingual nerve but it turned out to be a muscle. So I have read up about nerve damage and it is terrifying. What tooth are you having surgery on?

As far as the biopsy, my endo's assistant said that they send out the infected tissue to a lab in order to see what type of infection is causing the pain and if there is a possible malignancy. So now I am not scared about the actual procedure, just the possible complications and results.

So since you are going for a second apicoectomy, I am guessing that they are not very successful. I wish that I had the money for an implant, because I am not in the mood for all of this, lol. Thank you for asking your endo for me, I really appreciate it. My apicoectomy is scheduled for Wednesday morning at 9:15. I want to get it over with as early in the day as possible.

I'm having all of my work done on tooth number 3 top right most front molar. The reason i'm having my second apico is because the top endo at the practice feels that the first endo didnt cut off enough of the root tip and there's still a hidden canal further up that root which is causing the pain. Although i've heard from other people who have had apico's that in the end they pulled the tooth.

I completely agree if i had money for an implant i'd do that. Fortunately for me, this surgery is free because they didnt get the problem right the first time. So i'll let them do what ever they need to do to fix the problem since it's of no cost to me! :p

Well i just got back from my secon Apico and they took more of the root tip off the same root they did previously and then cut off a second root tip, they were not infected so that was good, however, when they went to access the second root tip they had to get into the sinus cavity because the root spread quite a ways up into the sinuses, that was an interesting feeling having everything pour down through my sinuses and into the back of my throat. They pulled back a lot more of the gum tissue to get a good look at everything. All in all afterwards they said they didnt see anything unusual so hopefully by cutting two root tips i will be rid of the problems with this tooth. I'm in a bit of pain now that the novicaine wore off and i think i'll have some swelling and bruising as they did a lot more cutting and tugging this time around. I go back in a week to have the stitches removed and have to be careful now that i've got a hole in my sinus cavity for about a week but he said i should heal up well.

Hi Eve, just thought i'd check to see how your Apico went today?

Eve some of my symtoms match yours. I was wondering have you found a cure?

Traumatize you seem like you have been through a lot. What type of x rays did this doctor find your infection on that the rest of these doctors could not. As the infection there all the time but the others just could not see it?
i am going in for a cone beam scan soon. I hope something shows on that.

Stephanie