Date:   2/9/2003 5:00:11 PM ( 21 y ago)
Hits:   3,049
URL:   https://www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=39424

Hello,

I'm hoping for some advice to an alternative to my scheduled root canal therapy. I'm having serious second thoughts about it, but I don't know what the alternatives are, or how to find a dentist (if necessary) who will practice those alternatives. I'll give as much background as I can...

I have an abcessed tooth, and a root canal scheduled for Thursday. Two weeks ago, I was having major pain from this tooth, which has been a problem/cavitated tooth for some time. The tooth had been fine for about a year, since it was last filled, but starting in November, it slowly started to get sensitive and painful to chew with. By mid-to-late January, it was in full blow hurts-like-hell mode. I couldn't even sleep for a few nights.

So I went to the dentist. He took an xray, and also removed the filling and tried to drill into the tooth. This hurt in the worst way imaginable. He declared the tooth a "hot tooth" and recommended a root canal in two weeks. He drilled in a little further and inserted some kind of medicine. Then he sealed the tooth again with a filling. He said that the tooth pain and swelling would reduce over the next few days. He prescribed some darvocet (I think it was) for pain. Instead of getting better, the opposite happened. Before I left the office, I scheduled the root canal for two weeks later (which will be this upcoming Thursday).

Over the first 36 hours after leaving the dentist, the pain steadily got worse, and the swelling bigger. It was unbelievable pain. The darvocet did nothing. Finally I called the dentist back and told him I needed something else. He prescribed some kind of steroid-based medicine that he said would reduce the swelling. My friend picked it up for me, but when I looked the stuff up on the internet, it sounded really harsh, with a long list of nasty side effects. So I didn't take it. I figured if swelling was the problem, I'd try ibuprofen. So I downed some of those, and was actually able to finally fall asleep. The next morning, the swelling was much reduced, and the pain was down to a manageable dullness.

Since then, I've continued on the ibuprofen, and the swelling has gone down to almost none, and the pain is much reduced. I can take much less of the ibuprofen now, but if I stop taking it, some above-the-threshold pain returns.

The nature and location of the pain has changed since I started taking the ibuprofen. Before, the tooth itself was very sensitive. Now, I can chew totally normally on that side of the mouth and the tooth is not bothered at all. However, the area above the tooth, leading up into my cheek area, seemingly along the line of the root, is sensitive to the touch. This is the same place where the swelling was before. In fact, the line of pain leads a full 2 1/2 inches above my mouth, all the way to the edge of my nose. I assume this is infection in the root system.

So that's where I am: having second thoughts and wondering what to do. I have the following questions:

- What alternatives do I have to the root canal?

- If removal of the tooth is a recommended alternative, then do I need to go to a dentist who follows a particular protocol? There was an interview with a dentist elsewhere on this site who had written a book and had a recommended special protocol for removing the tooth and the infection, so that's why I ask.

- If I decide against the root canal, should I be concerned with what might be half-done work that the dentist did a couple weeks ago? I'm referring to the procedure where he injected some kind of medicine. I don't know if the filling he put on top of that could be a permanent one, or if he put in a temporary one in anticipation of the root canal.

Any and all advice appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan

 

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