i just had a filling done on tooth 31. two months later i started feeling sensitivity to cold and hot on and around the tooth. then the right side of my jaw felt sore, i felt pressure on the right side of my face and there was a sharp pain in my right ear. i went back to the dentist and they said the tooth my be sore from the procedure and it was normal. they prescribed me vicodin and that was it. its been about three months now and the tooth is not as sensitive but i still feel the pains on the right side of my face and if i bite on the tooth i feel a sharp pain shoot down my jaw. i went back to the dentist again and was told that i would need a root canal on that tooth. could they have done something wrong durring the filling procedure to cause the root canal? could a new tooth filling turn into a root canal?

Was it a replacement of an old filling due to decay or just being old and deteriorating or a totally new cavity being filled? It could be that the decay was quite deep and in removing it the dentist may have affected the nerve thus requiring a rc. If you have the xrays used in determining the need for the filling you could take it to another dentist for a 2nd opion and to ease your mind in terms of whether the dentist was compentent or not.

Yes, it is very possible that a tooth that was filled can need a root canal. This is especially true if the filling was very deep and close to the nerve. It doesn't mean that your dentist did anything wrong, just that it was more extensive than he thought or the nerve was damaged. I would also ask about a crack in the tooth. You often feel sharp pain when biting down if a tooth has a crack in it. The crack can occur from having the filling done or it may have already been cracked. These are often hard to detect and often dentists go by your symptoms. Try not to worry - deep cavities, even after fillings, can require root canals. Let us know how you do.

glowing4

thank you.

Hi it sounds to me that the original decay went far deeper than the dentist thought or saw. Hence a good reason for dentists to carry out proper xrays to determine how far the decay goes. Either he didn't remove all the decay there and left the roots still decayed and covered over with a tooth filling, or the filling he put in has started to leak and decay set in that way.

I think there has been some negligence here.

thank you.