I had an bit of a fall that resulted in losing about 1/3 of a front tooth. Even the nerve was exposed. I was visiting a friend in a different state at the time. She took me to her dentist who did a root canal treatment. When I got home my dentist checked out the work and said that everything looked good and he put a crown on the tooth, which the last dentist did not do.
Fast forward a year and the crowned tooth became very sensitive to both hot and cold. After a few months, the tooth gradually calmed down, but was still a little sensitive for cold. I’d finally saved up enough to go in and the dentist did an x-ray and exam but could not find anything wrong with the tooth. He decided I needed to see a specialist and sent me to an endodontist.
This specialist did not see anything wrong with the tooth either and thought maybe the problem was me clenching my teeth which could cause pain. He felt I was feeling pain on the tooth next to it. Nothing is being done and I’m worried I can lose this tooth. Have you heard of a situation like this?
Evelyn
Dear Evelyn,
I’m more puzzled with why neither your dentist or specialist can figure this out than I am about your tooth. First, if I understand what you said correctly, then you had a root canal treatment on a front tooth that removed the nerve. It was also checked by another dentist. In that case, that tooth cannot be the one having sensitivity to hot or cold because it should not have feeling. That doesn’t mean you are not feeling pain, just that it is referred pain, which means coming from a different tooth.
Second, not seeing anything on the x-ray does not surprise me because it would be inflamed. Until it blows up into an infection, there would not be anything to see.
Third, you had a traumatic injury to a front tooth that was rather significant. It is very unlikely that the tooth next to it was not impacted even though it did not lose any structure. Often when a tooth experiences trauma, the damage from that is slow to become obvious. It is not uncommon at all for it to be fine for a few years and then blow up.
I do not think you have a dental emergency on your hands. Because you are not having pain now it either means the tooth has recovered or the adjacent tooth is dying. My suggestion is that you leave it, but have an x-ray at your next check up and then every few years after that. If the tissue does die, then it will mean another root canal treatment on the adjacent tooth.
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