A few years ago, while hiking, I tripped and damaged a tooth by breaking a part of a front tooth. I was out of town when it happened but did get an emergency root canal treatment with a dentist I didn’t really know. Once I returned home, my regular dentist checked it out and thought the work was good, but added a dental crown to it. Fast forward two years and the crowned tooth really started to bother me. It became sensitive to hot and cold. My dentist referred me to an endodontic specialist. He thought the problem was actually coming from the tooth next to the one with the dental crown because I have been clenching it in my sleep. Eventually, it stopped hurting, but now it is hurting again. They say there is nothing on the x-rays. I don’t know what to do. If something happened, is it normal for an adjacent tooth to have a problem a year or two later? What do I do?
Sammie
Dear Sammie,
I think I can help you here. First, once the root canal treatment was done on your tooth, the nerve was removed. So that means the tooth with the crown could not be the one sensitive to hot or cold unless the root canal wasn’t done or if it failed. This was an upper front tooth, which are the easiest root canals to do, so I don’t think it failed. Plus, your dentist checked it out and said it was fine.
I’m not shocked that they didn’t see anything on the x-ray. Until it progresses to an infection it might not be visible. It is also not unusual for a tooth to have trauma but not show problems for a year or so. I don’t know why your dentists are having trouble with this. My suggestion, if it is no longer bothering you, is to follow up with this and have an x-ray every year or so to check for a developing infection. It may never develop.
If you do have pain blow up before your yearly x-ray, get an emergency dental appointment because you want to stay on top of it.
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