Here's my dental nightmare story:

• back in Sept. my dentist put a temp. crown on my tooth
• after 2 temp. crowns broke we finally got the new perm. crown on and I had some pain after that - headaches, neck pain, jaw and tooth pain.
• dentist adjusted the bite several times - still in pain.
• dentist said, ok, that crown must be bad, let's order a new one
• went to a massage therapist and chiropractor for relief from headaches-no help
• went to another dentist for a second opinion, he put me on steroids and said that it should reduce the swelling in the tooth - it helped some and headaches went away.
• went back to get my second crown a week & 1/2 ago- guess what? headaches are back, neck pain is back, jaw & neck feels like someone slammed it with a baseball bat.
• the second opinion dentist said, let's try antibiotics, and if that doesn't work, another round of steroids.

The bottom line: 2 dentists, 2 chiropractors and I’m still in much pain. I can feel every bone in my face and my neck is as stiff as a board. I just want it to end. Any ideas on what I should do?

Only one thing comes to mind and that is a root canal problem whereby the dentist drills through the tooth wall into the bone. The bone area becomes infected and all this pain could be coming from that. Not diagnosing, there is no possible way I could under the circumstances.

Sometimes the endodontist/dentist/whoever doesn't know this has happened but it can be detected with more X rays and it can be fixed.

The temporary crown is supposed to be the "test", especially if a root canal has been done. It also covers the tooth until the permanent crown is made.

You should know if the bite is correct. You should not feel pressure on the tooth, nor should you feel pressure on the sides. The side clearance can be checked with dental floss and the bite is generally checked by your feedback and the blue strip that shows where material has to be removed.

The breaking of the temporary crowns concern me. Fell off is one thing, breaking is something else.

I too cannot diagnose, but assuming the above tests are OK, X-rays usually can determine if the root canal has failed. I feel that a course of antibiotics might be useful.

However, I would consider having the crown removed, cleaned, x-rayed, re-packed and re-installed after the infection subsides.

In short, I don't trust the restoration.

If the root canal failed, the only real option becomes extraction and implant.

Root canals are not always required before a crown is placed.

I'm virtually in agreement with tickle and

First... has a root canal been DONE on the tooth already? I'm assuming one has but you didn't mention it.

Were x-rays taken by the dentists?

I'm agreeing with KISS, that perhaps the crown should be removed and the possibility of a cracked root be investigated. Sometimes these cracks cannot be seen on x-rays and the filling has to be completely removed for the dentist to check. Hopefully the dentist you see wears loupes (glasses with magnification) which will make the crack much easier to see.

In the mean time try alternating Advil and Tylenol every 2 hours to see if it helps with the pain.

Dude that crazy, the only thing I can think off is that the crown is too high, but I'm sure he ground it down enough (it's obvious if it is too high) does your bite feel off? That's the only way a crown can give you neck pain, otherwise its just coincidence...

The bite is off I think as food gets stuck now up in my upper teeth where it never did before and I hear a strange "squishing" noise when I chew.

Yep and that will become painful. The standard test is "tap your teeth together" You can figure out which teeth or area of the mouth is hitting.

Warning: You do need opposing teeth to keep the bite in check.

Ihave the same problem. 2 years ago I went for a check up and ended up with 7 crowns. I knew I was going to have 4 crowns because I have had a root canal done on those teeth but my dentist also urged me to get 3 more since "crowns look better". I trusted him and got the crowns. I also got braces and that's hopw my nightmare begun. After the braces were taken off, the tooth with the crown had metal bands glued around them so the bracet stuck to the tooth. The metal bands were placed on the crown, under the gums. My crowns came loose, I got food stuck undere my crowns and I even got a bad infection under the root of my tooth and my dentist kept telling me to floss and brash because its probably just food particles that cause the pain. So I went for a second opinion, turns out I have an infected root. I found a new dentist who saved my tooth and I ended up replacing 3 crowns and still have to replace one. I HATE crowns. I feel like I have plastic in my mouth. I hate how food gets trapped by the gumline. I feel like I have aged since I got the crowns. Look up biometric dentistry. Hollistic dentistry is agaiinst crowns because bone is flexible and crowns are not so every time we bite it the bone wants to flex but the crown doesn't allow it causing pain and discomfort. I feel you! Im in the same boat. Crowns are like prison to my teeth