Spacers causing root canal?

[Rustymeister]

Hi, I am a 38 year old male. After some pain, my endodontist told me it is because of grinding. Long story short, I saw an orthodontist who said I need braces. I had 11 spacers put in, removed a few days later and replaced at which time I had braces put on my bottom mouth and a week later had the spacers removed from the top and an expander installed. When rinsing my mouth out, the far back right top molar hurt when the cold water hit it. I had not had pain there before. He did say however that there was a deep filling there and the spacer might have affected it causing me to potentially need a root canal. A few days later it began throbbing a bit. It stopped hurting later that day though. FYI, this is the tooth right next to one of the expander brackets. One the other side of my mouth today, the far back left top tooth is hurting (also the tooth right next to it has the expander bracket on it). Could it just be soreness from the expansion and the fact the bracket is right next to it? I hate to think after $4,500 for braces I am looking at another $900 x 2 for a root canal on each tooth. The teeth don't hurt badly, they are just sore if my tongue incidently touches it. Any thoughts here? I am seeing my Endondontist tomorrow to evaluate, but just wanted to know what I might expect.

[Sunny]

Hi and welcome Rusty!

This throbbing could be caused by many things, but the best way to find out is to go see your dentist and ask. You could also give your ortho a call and ask. ... hopefully your endondontist will be able to clarify this for you.

Good luck!

[Rustymeister]

Thanks, my endodontist said it all has to do with the trials and tribulations of having the expander and it is normal. He probed my teeth and no root canal needed. My orthodontist confirmed it as well, so I can relax.

[Sunny]

That's great news!

Here's to your mouth settling soon with the expander! Good luck!

[Rustymeister]

Well the bummer of it is that I must've misunderstood one thing. I guess the tightening of the expander is 3-4 weeks total, but then I have to wear it another month afterwards. *Sigh*, oh well, it is a means to an end.

[Zoso]

Glad it turned out that those teeth got a clean bill of health. It's definitely true that moving the teeth can cause some discomfort - more for some people than others. And it makes sense that a tooth that is already, due to a large filling, going to tend to be more sensitive anyway, might respond more markedly in this regard.

Hang tight with that expander - gosh, as I post this, you're already two more weeks into the expansion phase than you were, and so at least a quarter of the way to that two month mark. It's common to keep the expander in place for some time after it's done doing its active work, so as to help hold the teeth where they now are. It's also common to have it replaced after it is removed with something like a trans-palatal arch, again just to help maintain that space that was created. Just mentioning it just in case you have anything like that in store - better forewarned that it's possible than totally surprised on the day. But maybe you will get lucky, and have the roof of your mouth "completely go free".

Good luck.

[Rustymeister]

Thanks Zoso, oddly enough, things got worse before better. My wife was activating the expander 2x per day as instructed by my orthdontist. Last Wednesday she activated it and it hurt, felt like it was tightening over the roof of my mouth. I had my appt the next day and went in and he said he needed to remove it because I was right. He set an appt for what would've been today, but a few hours later, it began to throb, so I called and he had me come in. He warned me it would not be pleasant as he had to cut the expander off. He did it and it hurt like nothing else. He then wriggled the expander off my teeth which felt like my teeth were being pulled of. He then let my teeth relax a bit and put the upper braces on. My teeth are still sore, but I am glad to get them. He didn't put the ligature wire all the way on the right side of my mouth because I have a porcelain filling and so he is waiting to see if the glue holds on what he put there before doing it. My teeth have been sore ever since. I do have one question:

My far back right molar which was the tooth next to the expander does not have the braces on it, but yesterday began to hurt a bit. My Endodontist had commented before it has a deep filling and it can hurt now and then, but it did not hurt until the spacers were put on it a couple of months ago and when they were removed, they began to hurt every few days for about 1/2 the day and the next day were just tender, and then fine for several days. My Endodontist said he thinks it is ok, probably (at the time) just soreness from the expander - My question is, the expander has been off for 5 days now. Even though my braces are not on that tooth, could the braces be causing that tooth to hurt off and on lik the rest of my mouth?

[Zoso]

I'm no expert. But there is a very common phenomenon called "referred pain" - nerves sort of branch out away from the brain, so sometimes when a nerve is being stimulated in one place, it can feel as if the sensation is originating somewhere else along that branch instead/as well. No idea if that's the case here, but it could be possible. Have you tried tapping gently on the un-braced molar with something like the end of a spoon handle? If there were no discomfort on tapping on that tooth, I'd bet that all is well. But even if tapping on that tooth hurts, it's still possible that the tooth is still OK, since I'd guess that it might be tenderness originating in the gums, from the movement of the adjacent tooth. And, all of this said, my policy is always this: if you are in doubt or worried, just discuss with your ortho. It's his job to make sure you are comfortable with what is going on.

[Sunny]

Wow Rusty that was a nasty outcome from your expander. It was great your ortho got it off so quickly and prepared you for that as best he could.

I agree that you should contact your ortho and discuss this pain. It may be many things, but your ortho is the best person to ask, plus his advise will hopefully help you to stop worrying!

Good luck!

[Rustymeister]

Thanks, I will give him a call today. It didn't bother me much yesterday, but this morning it is tender. it is not throbbing in agony, just every now and then I get a twinge that hurts a little bit. If I bite down with the tooth it feels a bit sore, I tapped on it with a spoon and it hurt, but just a little, kind of like if you have a bruise and push on it, it hurts a bit. My biggest worry was the deep filling placed in that tooth that my Ortho said may have been aggravated by the spacer which may have turned it into a root canal. If it is just soreness because of all the Ortho stuff done and nothing more, no worries, it is just worrying about needing a $900 root canal that worries me. I might schedule an appt to have the Endodontist look at it again specifically, but first will see what my Ortho says.

[Zoso]

I promise, the worst thing about root canal therapy is paying the bill.

[Rustymeister]

yeah, that has been my experience, I've had several. The worst part actually is a dentist who does it wrong. That happened to me and years later because the post was placed not deep enough, the tooth got infected and my endodontist had to have my regular dentist pull the tooth. But otherwise, yes, the bill is the worst, my two root canals this last year were fine, I actually fell asleep

[Rustymeister]

Well, I had still another meeting with the Endondontist who looked at the tooth that had been bothering me and he was concerned about the deep filling there as they can be problematic. However, he tested it with extreme cold, biting, and an x-ray at length and said he believes it is just tender and sore from all the trauma of the spacers, the expander, the expander being cut off, and the addition of braces and that the discomfort should taper off over time - fingers crossed!

[Sunny]

Definitely a cheaper alternative ... fingers crossed!

[richmondhill]

I have never heard of a spacer leading to the need for root canal. It is true the tooth can be tender for a day or so from tooth movement, but not to the extent it would need root canal. Maybe there is some other underlying factor such as a deep filling that was done previously.