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Originally Posted by carboy I found various links which suggest that pulp capping is a viable alternative to root canal for a lot of cases. Pulp Capping - An alternative to root canal treatment Pulp Capping - Root Canal Alternative - 1-800-DENTIST® How to Avoid Root Canal with Direct Pulp Capping | eHow.com
My dentist also suggested pulp capping without me referring to it at all. He said after he drills through the old cavity & inspects the area, he would be able to decide whether pulp capping would work for me - it would work only if the nerve is not totally dead. Only otherwise did he say that I would have to go for a root canal.
My dentist is a very old fashioned dentist. He is least bothered about making money. He very rarely suggests wisdom teeth extraction or root canal treatment - there are other dentists in the area who recommend a root canal treatment even before you open your mouth. More than 50% of my dentists patients are maid servants etc who work in the colony.
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Tejas/SS-Traveller, I am dead scared about root-canal. So please advise me here if possible. Let me explain my issue again.
This is left side bottom end teeth - my left not the dentists left - Not the last one but 2-3 teeth before that I think. I had a cavity filled there around 2-3 years back. Now for a month, I had very mild pain occasionally there, very mild. Then a week back the pain increased. On Sunday, the pain increased & I started getting pain for 10-15 minutes after drinking coffee & then the pain goes off. I took a combiflam or two. By Monday, the pain was slightly more & I took more combiflams & went to the dentist in the evening. He tapped a lot of teeth, but I didn't feel anything - probably because of the combiflam. He then blew air over the teeth. Still nothing. But after 2-3 minutes, the pain started again - it was a dull pain - very irritating but bearable.
He has called me today again. He gave me antibiotics - ofloxacin + ornidazole. I have taken 4 tabs till now, but no relief whatsoever. He said he will do an emergency incision today & see it & then decide whether to do pulp capping or a root canal. I have had terrible pain yesterday night after dinner. Combiflams didn't help - I finally took an opiate - buta-proxyvon (my wife had this subscribed for a serious neck ache 2 years back & a couple of tabs were left). Tonight I am going to my dentist again.
Here is the deal - I am dead scared of dental procedures - anything heavier than a cavity filling scares me to death. My wife had a surgical wisdom tooth extraction teeth done 3 years back with complications. One side of her teeth is mildly numb after 3 years (probably some nerve got bruised) - She took nerve-on forte (alpha lipoic acide + some vitamins), but didn't help. It's doesn't pain or burn, but tingles & irritates her.
I have had wisdom teeth surgically extracted 20 years back without issues. I had another wisdom teeth pain 7 years back & extraction scheduled 7 years back, but chickened out & have still not done it - no problems at all since then.
So now I am looking at these choices (I know the dentist will decide what's the best thing to do, but I just wish to be informed).
- Pulp capping if possible (still not sure why most dentists do pulp capping).
- Root Canal
- Remove the damn offending tooth.
I feel removing the tooth is the safest, but don't know - even that may have complications, who knows - at age 40, all procedures have a higher %age of complications as compared to when you are 20 years old.
What are the disadvantages of tooth removal? Would it affect my chewing badly? Will I need an implant - if it does need an implant, I would rather not do it, because implants have their own complications.
Another thing is that I have this dentist of mine who I know for 30 years - he used to stay in the neighbouring building earlier. He is the most ethical guy I know, however, I am not sure if he even has x-ray capability inside his office & whether he is planning to do the procedure without an x-ray.
On the other hand, there is another dentist I am aware of who does root canals all the time - he recommends a root canal even before you open your mouth. He has all the latest equipment & keeps himself upto date with trainings in europe & what not. However, I don't trust him. But he is supposed to be an expert.
I am not sure who to visit.
Another question is -> is there some temporary thing I can do while I make up my mind. Something like drilling & draining the infection & then do any other procedure later after a week or so.
Also, someone told me that endodontists do root canal in one sitting, so that's another option?