RCT pain.....11 months after therapy?

[Guest]

This question/issue is bewildering both me AND my dentist .11 months ago - had RCT on #29...this RCT was considered "hot" ...by a top notch endo.Took him 3 hours ...that tell ya anything ? Ill spare the horror story on that fiasco......but now- ..i,m in a fair degree of pain from that"DEAD" tooth . X-rays +exam today show no indication of abcess ,swelling , or infection. Also - no indication of damage to the tooth itself-but there is significant pain from percussion on that tooth.Weve been unable to ID any trauma or biting hard on the surface of that tooth that could be a plausible reason for this.If this RCToutright failed ...why did it- and what options/recourse do I have ? any input here is appreciated ...as this development has tossed a monkey wrench into plans to cap #31..which , BTW now has a hole in the side at th e gumline . Its been traumatic enough from a stress point to have had to endure two of these RCT,s - plus prep work for 2 other crowns -those being LIVE teeth....so ...obviously-.Im rather disheartened by this development , not to mention having to possibly pay for the bloody thing to be done a second time!!!!!!!!!!!Any ideas from a clinical standpoint would be appreciated . Thank you

 

[Gordon]

Re: RCT  pain.....11 months  after therapy?

Tooth fractured with a hairline crack that you can't see? Has your dentist tried a tooth sleuth type device on it to see if there's any cusp that's particularly sensitive?
It's not unusual for teeth to fracture after endo, why did you wait so long to have it crowned?

 

[Guest]

Re: RCT  pain.....11 months  after therapy?

Gordon -Thank you for your prompt reply .The check you recommended was done -there is no indication that any other teeth /tooth are implicated here. It is possible there IS an undetected hairline crack - but x-rays seem to point against it -one dentist thought she spotted a hairline crack at the base several years ago........put some flourescant dye in the tooth -x-rayed it -and the concensus was that it was inconclusive..If there is suspicion - how does one confirm /DENY it with post + core build-=up in place?If I somehow bruised a nerve in the lower jaw- could THAT be possible as the source of the pain??Were going to try a 10 day course of antibiotics - first-on the unproven possibility that there IS an infection involved. As far as your other question -the reason why s 29 and 31 werent capped first ...we needed to cap 14, and 15 first ...due to an ongoing issue with #15 ..involving gum infection around that tooth due to a massive gap between/under the two teeth -trapping food, ect due to prior fracture of the corner of the tooth. BY capping those two LIVE teeth NOW(Aug 05)-we hopefully will avoid RCTs on both -at a cost of $1600 USD.If this tooth is indeed cracked- then what?

 

[Gordon]

Re: RCT  pain.....11 months  after therapy?

Normally the tooth sleuth would show up if there was a vertical crack in the tooth, not at the gum margin but down from the top of the tooth into the root system.
You can confirm it by starting to prep the tooth for a crown and having a large chunk of tooth come off
If it's a hairline crack you can normally see it with magnification and maybe some caries detector dye, but usually the diagnosis is made with the tooth sleuth.
If you've bitten on something unusually hard while chewing something, the classic example is a bit of lead shot in a pheasant then you can bruise the ligament which supports the tooth, this would give similar symptoms of pain on chewing but not to heat which you've mentioned, so this is a possibility.
Antibiotics would possibly confirm the presence of infection if the pain suddenly stopped, but it might still be coincidental.
If the tooth is in fact cracked then possibly crowning will hold it together, but the prognosis for it isn't great. Sorry.

 

[Guest]

Re: RCT  pain.....11 months  after therapy?

Gordon -if that crack was horizontal at the base - would it give the same symptom pattern? Bruised nerve --time will heal this? I was put on Augmentin -7 day course ......after that - we reevaluate .So- in a nutshell -this tooth could go to $#$# on me =possibly break -during prep - for the crown ?S#$#!!!!!!!Just my luck!!!!!!!!!!How nice . ...and no real way to guess what might happen ......Dont mean to sound discouraged - but the 3 Stooges version of tooth removal is tempting --except ill use Power Pro braided fish line -wont break-unlike teeth ..........

 

[Gordon]

Re: RCT  pain.....11 months  after therapy?

Teeth don't usually break horizontally, they're much stronger in that direction. TBH I've never seen a horizontal fracture.
Yes it's possible that the tooth is doomed, that's life I'm afraid, we're dealing with biological processes with all the inherent uncertainties that brings. Which I realise is no comfort to you whatsoever, sorry.