Root Canal

[bridipridi]

I had a root canal done on 3-18. I have had them before so I knew what to expect. I expected pain afterwards especially when biting or chewing on that tooth.  The first two days went as I expected them too, I took my anti biotics and pain meds as prescribed. My pain was still high for me so I asked for a stronger pain killer and they had no problem with that. The evening of night three my pain seemed to get worse and nothing was helping the pain at all. I did not sleep much that night. When I woke up the fourth morning the right side of my face was swollen and i was in a lot of pain. Of course it happened to be a Saturday, LOL. I called his emergency number and he met me at his office within an hour. He noticed the swelling and checked it out and decided to put a drain in to let the extra fluid drain out. He said the extra pain was from all the pressure of the fluid and once it was released most of my pain would be gone. He numbed me up really good that day, I was numb for 15 hours. When I woke up hte fifth morning the swelling had gone down a lot and I had just the normal pain. (normal pain=pain that can be controlled by pain meds) Then again on the fifth evening I started having pain that I could not control anymore. I was again up all night in pain and woke up with my face way more swollen than the first time. I called the Dentist Office and was told that sometimes it takes a long time to heal from a root canal. I feel like they are just blowing me off as somebody who just wants more pain meds. I did ask for stronger ones in the begining and they were fine with giving them to me. I have not asked for anymore since that because I still have some!!  But when I call they just say that they will not be prescribing any more pain medications and I should be fine in a couple of days. I am calling to tell them that my face got very swollen and then went down and now has become very swollen again and yes the pain has increased too. Doesn't inflammation and increased pain mean something is wrong? Do they think I'm just saying it to try and get more pain meds?  Or is this really a normal reaction to root canals? I thought it was only normal if you were getting at least a little bit better everyday. I'm going back and forth and now just back.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[scottma]

Flare-up after canal instrumentation is not uncommon. Systemic administration of appropriate antibiotics tends to clear up infection in 72 hours.

[Marin600]

Hi.  After nearly a dozen of the darned things, I agree that you should be getting better and better, not back and forth.  Just show up in his office with your swollen face and tell him that you feel like he's blowing off your concern and that you want a guarantee that you're not harboring an infection.  Ask him how he, not you, can solve the problem, and if you're not 100% satisfied with his solution, tell him so.  If he can't attempt to solve the pain issue, raise the pen and paper that you've been holding in your hand, and tell him you just want to make sure that you have his name and address spelled correctly, then smile and say that you're posting your experience with Med Help's dental community messages.  If he still can't solve the problem, walk out and let him stew in his own pew!  Go to the Dental Association, register a complaint, and ask for a referral for someone to help you.  If your town is too small for a dental association, just show up at your dr's office, explain the situation, and ask them to get help for you.  You need to act on this without delay.  It's much harder for them to try to avoid helping you when you're standing in their office.  Check out oil pulling at http://www.curezone.com/---scroll down the far right column until you come to Topics.  Click on Oil Pulling/Swishing.  (Can't remember exactly how it's listed).  I know, it sounds impossible, but it's cheap and some cultures have been successfully using this technique for more than 2000 years.  It's worth a try!  Let us hear how you make out on this.  Good Luck!