Been having a sore tooth or teeth for a week. Last couple days, it became painful to chew. I sometimes damage my roots from grinding my teeth too much, but I use a night guard religiously now. Despite it, I have been waking up at 3AM from tooth pain, so I saw a dentist. She told me it's just sensitive nerves, damaged, but might recover. Pain washes over me in waves, and the tolerable parts are getting shorter, and the overwhelming pain is growing longer.
Last night, I was curled up in the shower, crying and drooling, I haven't been in this much pain in 15 years or more: the last time I had root troubles with my teeth, and part of my root was necrotized.
Out of habit, I went to work this morning despite waking up throughout the night in pain. On the train, I can't focus on anything, just this insane pain in my jaw. I get to work and make an appointment with the dentist, who can see me immediately. She recognizes that my root is likely irreparably damaged, and asks if I want an emergency root canal procedure. I am in so much pain, I don't see another choice.
Getting properly anesthetized took about 4 more attempts even after she doped me up at the big nerve at the hinge of my jaw, but eventually she got all of my nerves scraped out from inside that molar.
I'm unhappy to have another root canal, but really fucking grateful to not be balled up in pain and waiting for it to get worse.