I had a root canal treatment done about 3 years ago after an accident. It was on a front tooth. A month back, it started hurting again and became sensitive to hot and cold. The pain has gone away but I’ve been concerned and went in to see a dentist. He couldn’t find anything wrong with it, even in the x-ray. I also saw a specialist who said the same thing. I’m afraid there is something big wrong and they are missing it. I don’t want to lose my tooth. Would you advise me?
Misha
Dear Misha,
If the root canal were truly done then you would not have developed pain afterward because all of the infected pulp would have been removed. If there were a molar, then I would say your dentist missed a canal. However, you said it was a front tooth. Those are pretty straight forward.
My suggestion is that this is referred pain. You mentioned the damage to your tooth was due to trauma from an accident. One thing which is fairly common with tooth trauma is that an adjacent tooth will have initial damage that does not show up until much later. It may be this is your situation.
Just because they didn’t see anything on the x-ray does not mean there is not issue. When the pulp of a tooth is inflamed, it doesn’t show up on the x-ray. Once the inflammation progresses to an infection is when it would become more visible during diagnostics.
If you had pain and it is gone, then one of two things has happened. Either the tooth has healed or it is dying. If it is the later, then it will turn darker and show up eventually. I would simply be careful to keep up with your regular dental appointments and make sure they do x-rays to keep an eye on things. The good news is, either way this is not a dental emergency.
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