Hello,

The past five or six days I’ve had my gums on the lower right side of my mouth, along with the gums on the upper side of my mouth swollen and painful. I’ve gone the dentist in order to get it checked out, they did a cleaning procedure and also found four cavaties which were tiny and I was able to get them taken care of today with fillings.

However, periodically today I’ve waves of pain on the gums on upper slight right side of my mouth, and after getting the fillings done (which weren’t very close to gum areas that were sore which is why I originally went in) I haven’t felt anything.

However, that changed later tonight around four hours ago when the waves of pain came back and worse than ever on the upper slight ride side of my mouths’ gums, and then felt like it was spreading down into my one tooth in the span of minutes and my entire tooth has been nonstop hurting since (toothache). The pain was the worst that I’ve felt in years, and I found that I’ve been able to ease the pain by putting cold water in my mouth on the tooth. It completely dissipates the pain near instantly and it feels incredibly relieving, but it comes back after a minute and a half and I need more water to ease it again.

This has been going on for around four hours now, but the pain has finally gotten to a bearable level now to where I can focus on finding out what the hell it is.

I know that my gums must have been infected which is why I booked a dentist appointment ASAP. They took x-rays in the areas I talked about (upper slightly right, and also

What is Invisalign?

Invisalign is an orthodontic treatment option for aligning your teeth and fixing your bite. It consists of a transparent material that covers all your teeth, called aligners. Your treatment is digitally planned by the orthodontist and the aligners are then 3D printed according to the plan.

How does Invisalign work?

Each patient is provided a unique set of aligners that is custom made for their teeth and planned by the orthodontist. Each aligner is worn 1-2 weeks for 22 hours/day, moving the teeth closer to the final result. The aligner wraps around the teeth and with the help of tooth colored bumps glued to the teeth (called attachments), the teeth move more efficiently towards the planned result.

What is the process of getting Invisalign aligners?

• Like every orthodontic treatment your photos and radiographs are taken. A 3D scan of your teeth is sent to Invisalign, so it can be uploaded on the software.
• Then the treatment is carefully planned and controlled by the orthodontist. Once the planning is finalized, Invisalign manufactures a number of aligners according to the orthodontist’s plan.
• The patient wears the aligners and the orthodontist will monitor the treatment throughout the set of aligners.
• At the end, the results are evaluated by the orthodontist. If minor adjustments are needed, the teeth are rescanned and fewer aligners are provided to achieve a good, esthetic and customized result.

Invisalign vs. Braces: What’s the difference between the treatments?

Braces are bonded to the teeth and stay on them till the end of treatment. On the other hand, Invisalign is removable and you need to wear them 22 hours/day.

Depending on each case, the treatment length may differ between having braces or Invisalign. So it’s important to discuss this during the orthodontic consultation.

What are advantages of Invisalign?

We put our teeth through a lot in our lifetime, including the hours we spend eating and drinking. The tooth surfaces must deal with a constantly changing environment. One area that sometimes gets overlooked when choosing our diet is the acidity in maybe causing to our teeth.

Enamel is the hardest substance found in the body but even this amazingly tough outer tooth layer can be damaged by a pH environment lower than 5.5. The pH 0 being the most acidic. If these harsh conditions occur frequently then the top layer can be eroded away over time.

The appearance of acid erosion differs from other types of tooth substance loss as it is smoother in appearance making it less obvious to spot. Here’s what to look out for:

• Saucer shaped depressions, wearing away of biting surfaces and edges that have a smooth shiny appearance.
• Thinner enamel or dentine which sometimes has a darker yellow/brown coloring.
• These visual symptoms are often accompanied by sensitivity to hot, cold, and sweet stimulates
• The surface of the tooth can also feel different to the tongue and touch usually feeling rougher.

Causes include internal factors such as:

• Gastroesophageal reflux or acid reflux. This can be caused by food/drink, smoking, pregnancy, and medical conditions such as hiatus hernia.
• Bulimia is eating disorder which causes frequent vomiting to control a person’s food intake. This causes the enamel to be in contact with strong acids in the stomach.
• Binge drinking and alcoholism can also induce regular vomiting. The acid in the stomach has a pH around 1.

External factors:

• Foods include acidic fruit such as citrus fruits, apples, and tomatoes.
• Anything that has been pickled or preserved in vinegar is also a high risk.
• Drinks such as sodas, alcohol and fruit juices are obvious dangers but there are

I am meeting an endo tomorrow for a first consult on #18.

No pain, no pus, no fever. Acute irreversible pulpitis with periapical abscess.

I do have swelling over both #18 and #19 that has been there for 7 days now already so time is passing. Everyone was closed over Thanksgiving.

Can I get some guidance on the endo steps/choices? How do I judge the quality of his recommendations and commit?

Is this a clear cut case or should I waste time and money on consulting different endos?