Need help - root canal or extraction

[wookielove]

I have a tooth that had a deep cavity filled. It's been sensitive on and off. Two weeks ago when I was doing diaphragm stretching exercises and (at a different time) biting on a snorkel mouthpiece it started to bother me again.

Honestly it feels like nerve inflammation, but an emergency trip to a dentist where I'm travelling resulted in a referral for a root canal. There is no visible infection on the x-ray. I've had these periods of sensitivity before, sometimes lasting 4 months or more. But even if this is just an aggravated nerve, I can't continue to live with it.

My dentist at home is very against root canals.

I'm trying to decide whether or not to cut my trip short and deal with extraction or try the root canal here.

There are two major opinions about root canal online, but I didn't see threads here or if CFS people have come to a consensus on them.

I have arthritis, digestion, osteoporosis, and methylation issues already in addition...

Any helpful tips or thread links will be appreciated.

 

[pamojja]

Any helpful tips or thread links will be appreciated.

Only my own tire experience. I got a root-canal despite not having given consent to the dentist, but instead instructed him to extract, if it can't be saved without root-canal. Just after had a PAD diagnosis due to a 80% blockage at my abdominal aorta bifurcation, and a 60% walking-disability from that. Took me 6 years with tremendous efforts with natural medicines and life-style changes to experience again remission from that. ME/CFS symptoms remaining (mainly constant PEM). In year 8th I got that only root-canal pulled, and now the 10th year I haven't really any PEM the last 1 1/2 years!

 

[Rufous McKinney]

My dentist at home is very against root canals.

I know alot of people whose opinions I respect who indicate Flee root canals. Get rid of the tooth if its requires that.

But these are very tough decisions to make.

Here, its a triple whammy. If I lose that tooth- how will I eat? Only one side works now.

Body refused an implant I had toyed with.

And my mouth swells up daily, especially at night...how would I wear a denture or bridge with all this flaming INFLAMATION? And the dry mouth Sahara desert symptoms here, also. The denture would drive me nuts.

I've got teeth that hurt intermittently, and then it stops and had I pursued that I would be near toothless.

But the low grade bacterial condition in root canals is likely: a real issue.

 

[Wishful]

I've had several root canals. Two failed after many years of good service. One failed due to a crack in the tooth, and the other failed due to an unusual tunnel between two roots, which hadn't shown up on x-rays until the redone root canal failed again. Yes they fail, but they had provided long service, so I don't regret them.

I also have an implant, for the first failed molar. It's been providing good service for 6+ years (forget exactly when). No complaints. I planned to have the other molar fitted for an implant, but I just got used to the missing molar, so I'm in no rush to drive to Edmonton for an implant (several trips of 5+ hrs).

As Rufous says, a low-grade bacterial infection is likely. I went through several bouts of antibiotics before finally getting those teeth pulled.

For me, I'd rate an implant as the best option health-wise. Root canals are cheaper, and might provide good value, but failure is more likely than the implant. I don't know about bridges.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

@Wishful
Thank you for that concise and encompassing post.

Like many here, am having dental problems, your post will help me work thru some thorny issues.

 

[LaurelW]

I would get a root canal and try to save the tooth if possible. Extractions bring a whole host of other problems.
I have lots of root canals due to poor dental care when young, and they are fine.

 

[Wishful]

Hmmm, two types of dentists: those who feel that root canals should be avoided, and those who feel that the tooth should be saved if possible. I wonder if there are fistfights about this at dentist's conventions?

 

[Wayne]

I didn't see threads here or if CFS people have come to a consensus on them.

@wookielove -- Root canals have been discussed frequently on this forum, and if you haven't already noticed, there is no concesus on them. I myself am firmly in the anti root canal camp. I had one early on in life, and never gave it a second thought. When I became very ill, I considered whether to have it extracted. I set up an appointment to have it extracted, but was talked out of it, saying their most recent imaging technology indicated it was in perfect condition.

However, just shortly after that, my minor swallowing problems became worse, and other symptoms as well. I finally decided to have it extracted. And lo and behold, my swallowing difficulties improved 90% wihin 24 hours. And have not worsened since then. I really think I may have avoided early onset Parkinson's, and possibly other conditions had I not had that root-canaled tooth removed.

 

[percyval577]

I may easily be wrong, but it´s my understanding that you can have a jaw inflammation (from teeth) without feeling ill, and it might get visible finally when pus will break through the skin.

Recently I had tooth pain which suddenly appeared after having made a mistake in my diet (low manganese). Due to success with some vit´B´s I got high on spirits.
But I got the tooth pain resolved - for then - by drinking lemon juice. It should be metal management, as citrate acid is a chelator, and I made the additional mistake to take in metals by eating chocolate, which I meant to consolidate my improvement under favourable circumstances - which of course haven´t been around anymore right after the mistake.

(So, lemon juice is something you could try.)

Nevertheless, later by the dentist it turned out that the fourth molar has already died, but the second molar showed the pain (and didn´t react to the typical test). After having canaled the fourth molar the other one is quiet so far.
Interesting is also that I firstly felt better but then worse again, basically similar to a treatment for candida.

All together I think with teeth it´s not so easy.

Honestly it feels like nerve inflammation, but an emergency trip to a dentist where I'm travelling resulted in a referral for a root canal. There is no visible infection on the x-ray.

As far as I know this must be looked at directly, an x-ray is not reliable here. So opening the tooth, have a look, and when everything is ok closing it again, or if not, doing (eg) a canal. The reason was that the x-ray will not look through the filled cavity, and might not detect the problem.

 

[nyanko_the_sane]

I would try gargling some diluted peroxide, that might buy you some time.

 

[Wayne]

I would try gargling some diluted peroxide, that might buy you some time.

And swish it around the mouth as well, including using a toothbrush on top of the problem tooth. Many have done this with MMS (chlorine dioxide) and got rid of infections that their dentists were saying needed root canals.

 

[pamojja]

By the way, at the extraction of my only tooth canal I wasn't sure with what to substitute the precautiously prescribed antibiotic for 10 days. Finally I used a DMSO mouthwash, and to my surprise it worked amazingly well. Already the second day no pain, had even to search for the gap with my tongue.

 

[wookielove]

Thanks everyone for the posts. After my emergency visit to my sister's dentist, I was able to change my annual checkup to a few days from now, so I'm getting the whole thing looked at by my dentist in a couple of days.

To note, the percussion test on my tooth was horrible, but the cold test effectively stopped all pain in the tooth for over a week. It's starting to be more noticable now, but I'm not sure it's any worse than it was a year ago. I'll update as soon as I see my dentist.