I Think I Have Another Tooth Problem and I Need Help Figuring It Out.... Dentists? Anyone?

Ever since Dec I have been in and out of pain and my dds has been confident that her tests are proving that she is diagnosing correctly. She has said that there is a possibility that the tooth behind the root canal she did is a probably root canal... but very unlikely. In xrays there seems to be no abcess but I had symptoms of abcess i.e.; throbbing, sensitivity, etc. So here's where I am at now. I went back to dds yesterday. She did tests again. Said the rc tooth responds normal, and the one behind it seems to respond normal. However I noticed today when I took a frozen pea to the teeth the one behind the RC slightly throbs for a little while after. About 20 seconds or so... and if I bend down sometimes it barely does it. What I am thinking is that the tooth behind the RC needs a RC and it is effecting that entire area. Is it possible however it may not need a RC and just has a deep cavity? Xray says it's possible but not likely. And...

I Think I Have Another Tooth Problem and I Need Help Figuring It Out.... Dentists? Anyone?
Even though you are not showing an abcess on the xray, your symptoms point towards you needing a root canal.


I see this all the time, especially if the tooth in front of it already had one, it is quite possible that there was some residual infection from the tooth that was treated to infect the tooth behind. I would say you need to have a root canal, especially if you have a deep cavity, I would suggest that your dentist go in and remove the decay in the tooth and see if it is into the pulp, if so then you need a root canal, if not, then maybe they can put a medicated filling in it to see if it simmers down, if not then you know you need to root canal.


Good luck and remember, if it becomes sensitive to hot, then you most certainly need a root canal, an infected nerve responds to hot temp as well as cold.
Reply:OK...Here's what you should do....Go to an Endodontist (Root Canal Specialist) for an evaluation. You may need a referral from your dentist.
Reply:For any problems to show up on an xray, that means that the problem has been there for quite awhile (aka chronic). just becuase the xray doesn't show signs of needing a root canal doesn't mean it doesn't need to be done (aka acute). Testing (probing depths, percussian, mobility, occlusion, hot/cold, bute) is conducted to better ascertain what the cause of the pain may be.





When does your pain occur? Does your pain only occur when you're biting down? If that's the case, the cause could be as simple as high occlusion, to something more serious like a tooth fracture. If you're pain is random, and occurs with no stimulating factors, then a root canal is indicated. If it's just to hot/cold sensitivity, you may want to start using a tooth desensitizer like sensodyne, and see if that helps any. It could just be dentinal sensitivity.





Hope that helps