Is there such thing as an emergency dentist?

OLOL has on call dentist, and Oral Surgeons of it gets bad enough, or infected.

Pain killers or a door knob, whichever is closer. And yes, call your dentist, most have an emergency option.

The dental lobby really needs to step up its games.

I didn't have a root canal done on it and in full disclosure, she told me it might need one but she wanted to try and avoid it. Now I wish we would have done it. Because whatever we could have done to completely just kill the nerves in this fricking thing, I'd have done it.

You probably have an infection, antibiotics will give you relief from the throbbing pain faster than painkillers, a urgent care clinic could probably hook you up.

After my last two root canals over the years my dentist gave me prescription strength Aleve. It was 2 1/2 normal strength pills from the store. It last 12 hours and she only prescribed one pill each time. Store bought Aleve directions state you can take two but no more than 3 in a 24 hour period.

Call the office and see if you are able to get a cell number. Most dentists will call something in for you to tide you over. She would have done a root canal before cementing if it was infected. Sounds like it is irreversibly inflamed and will need one if the pain is spontaneous. A mild steroid like Dexamethasone will also help until treatment can be done. The root canal can be done through the crown and a resin filling placed to seal it afterwards. Advil Dual Action is also helpful in taking the edge off.

The majority of crowned teeth don’t have root canals but it is standard to crown back teeth that have been root canaled.

Oh they certainly can put crowns on such teeth, that isn't the problem. The problem is that crowns frequently fail for a number of reasons and many dentists don't have the expertise in preparation, fabrication, or in adhesion of a crown (which is dependent on the material the crown is made from too).