Tooth troubles!!

I tell you, if it's not one thing, it's another!

Maybe you don't remember, but way back in February 2010, I cracked a molar.  I was pregnant with Christian at the time, so I couldn't get it fixed until my 3rd trimester. April 2010, my dentist put a crown on my tooth.

Soon after that, I developed an abcess on the same tooth and ended up having a root canal in November 2010.

Around this time, I started to have TMJ pain in my jaw.

Fast forward to summer and fall of 2012, I visited three orthodontists and all three said I would need my jaw broken for my TMJ pain to go away.  (One said to break my top jaw, one said to break my bottom jaw, and one said to break them both). 

After 9 months, I was ready to visit an oral surgeon and talk about surgery.  Today I visited one who has a great reputation and is known for honesty and integrity.  This is the same one that pulled my wisdom teeth out when I was a sophomore in college.

Guess what he told me?

1.  That tooth with a root canal and crown from 2010, well, it appears from an xray taken 9 MONTHS AGO that there is ANOTHER abcess on the root of that tooth!!!!

2.  Even if I had jaw surgery, this oral surgeon would not guarantee that my pain would go away.  He said that I do need my top AND bottom jaws broken, but there are many, many risks (like blindness and nerves everywhere), thousands and thousands of dollars in costs, 2 1/2 -3 years in braces, 8-9 hour surgery, bones not healing properly, and not chewing for 6 weeks, etc, etc.  He made it sound like the risks are too high and the results would not necessarily be the ones I wanted.  

He said I should 1. get my abcess taken care of  2.  get on muscle relaxers (which I already take every night)  3. Lower my stress so I don't clench as hard at night 4.  Get a splint to wear at night.

He said that there is definitely degeneration in my jaw joint and I have osteo-arthritis there, but the damage is already done. My bite is terrible and that is causing all my pain. He said that he sees this quite often and I fit the profile, but he said to try all these conservative efforts first and come and see him again if I have to in the future. He said most of the pain is muscle tension and the key is lower the tension. So pretty much, keep doing what I have been doing!

As I was leaving, the nurse said she would get ahold of my dentist and tell him everything that we discussed.  If I hadn't heard from him by the end of the week, I was supposed to give him a call.  I thought differently. I gave my dentist the call about an hour after I left the surgeon's office and set up an appointment to get my abcess evaluated.  The receptionist got me in tomorrow! I told her that that tooth had been bothering me this last week or so and I was ready to call in anyway!

We are going on a trip in a week and a half and I would really like this taken care of before then.