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| Mon: | 7:30am - 4pm |
| Tues: | 7:30am - 4pm |
| Wed: | 7:30am - 4pm |
| Thurs: | 7:30am - 4pm |
| Fri: | 7:30am - 4pm |
| Sat: | Closed |
| Sun: | Closed |
Ouch! Sorry to hear that you've been in pain. I would definitely recommend seeing your doctor again for an evaluation. To help him to assess your symptoms, you may wish answer these questions:
- Has the pain been escalating and continuing to grow worse, or stay the same?
- Are you experiencing spontaneous pain? (such as when you are not eating or drinking)?
- Do you experience throbbing sensation, or pain that wakes you in the night?
- When a stimulus (such as cold water) causes pain to the tooth, does it last a couple of seconds or linger for a long time?
- Does the tooth feel better after your dentist adjusted the biting surface (we call it "occlusion")
- Do you notice particular pain when eating/drinking things with hot temperatures?
- Does the pain occur when you bite down or lift off of an item you are eating?
A crown may have been prepared due to deep decay, broken tooth, cracked tooth, or replacement of another restoration. In this process, the nerve of this living tooth can be irritated. Sometimes, if the temporary crown is slightly higher on the biting surface than the adjacent teeth, you will find yourself biting harder on that tooth than any other (which is what your dentist was trying to address). This is another cause of nerve irritation or Pulpitis. Sometimes this is reversible and things calm down and other times you have Irreversible Pulpitis in which the nerves of the tooth remain irritated and requires a root canal to treat. As you can see, there are multiple causes, processes and treatments for post-operative sensitivity, and not all of them are situations where antibiotics are required, which is why your dentist did not initially prescribe them.
I strongly suggested assessing your symptoms and reviewing them with your dentist. Another proactive thing you can do is to wear a nightguard to further protect the tooth from any traumatic force you can make at night while grinding/clenching your teeth. Good Luck!!
A native of New York City, Dr. Messer received her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1984 from New York University College of Dentistry. Her passion for dentistry drove her to seek post-graduate education that would allow her to provide patients with the kind of high-quality care she knew they...
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