I had a permanent crown put on my #18 molar about ten days ago. The dentist told me before he did the procedure that I may have to get a root canal if the crown did not eliminate my sensitivity to cold foods (I had several cracks in my tooth). About an hour after I left his office, I started feeling a very painful throb in my tooth and jaw. I took Tylenol which relieved it temporarily. After several days of this I went back and they adjusted my bite and told me to take Ibuprofen for possible inflammation. No change in pain levels after four more days, so I went back and got a consult from their endodontist. He did a cold sensitivity test and said he wasn't convinced that a root canal was needed. So he put me on Amoxicillin to help fight a possible infection. I've been on this antibiotic for 2 days, but the pain is still as bad as it ever was. I'm taking Tylenol every 6 hours or so, but I can't do this forever.
I'm tempted to just have them do a root canal so I can be free of the pain and get on with my life. But I'm wondering if it's typical for some people to still have a throbbing pain in their tooth and/or jaw for ten days after having a permanent crown put on.
Tylenol is not ibuprofen. Take Advil.
10 days sounds like a long time for a crown to still hurt, especially if it's been adjusted.
Wish I could offer you more definitive advice, I'm anxious to hear what others have to say.
I did take Advil before I took the Tylenol. The Advil took almost an hour to relieve my pain (Tylenol took about 15 minutes), but it didn't make any long-term difference. If I'm not better by this weekend after the antibiotics, I'll schedule the root canal. Because I have no insurance, they've agreed to do the entire procedure for $900.
Well, the pain was so unbearable last night that I barely slept, and my regular OTC meds were no longer effective. So, today I went ahead and had a root canal performed on the tooth. He was able to do the whole thing in one visit, and it was painless. He removed the permanent crown (instead of drilling through it) and completed the procedure in under 2 hours. Now I've got another temporary crown and will get the permanent one in 2 weeks.
The dentist said that I had a nerve that was almost dead, and there was a lot of bacteria and even bleeding inside my tooth. He felt that the procedure went very well, and he didn't anticipate any further problems.
I wish they would've performed the root canal before putting on the first crown, but he assured me that doing a root canal is not something that is usually done (or preferred) as a first line of treatment. I'm just glad the pain in my tooth is gone (for now) and I can start to live my life again without a fear of chewing or drinking cold liquids.
