Back story
Hi, several months ago I was chewing something hard and felt a sudden sharp fleeting pain near my lower left molar. It went away in a few seconds. I had no lingering symptoms. I mentioned it at my next dental cleaning. The dentist said X-rays were OK and the tooth looked OK, so I ignored it.
Over the next few months, I slowly developed on and off mild sensitivity only when chewing hard food. It was very mild pain if any. Then one week I started getting sensitivity to hot and cold with zings of sharp pain, so I went back to the dentist.
Treatment so far
The dentist did a cold test on tooth 18 which provoked some pain that went away after a few seconds. After looking closely, he said he thought there might be a hairline crack and did a filling. While he was drilling, there was one point where I felt a sudden sharp pain despite being numbed.
The filling seemed to improve the thermal sensitivity somewhat, but the tooth remained sensitive when chewing hard food. He referred me to endodontist.
The endodontist did more tests including a CBCT scan, which looked clear, and a bite test, which provoked some mild sensitivity or pressure (not pain) on tooth 18. He referred me back to the dentist for a temporary crown, and to monitor for a month.
I got the temporary crown yesterday. The dentist said to expect some sensitivity because the temporary crown is not as snug, and also to avoid chewing hard or sticky food because it's not very strong either. Sure enough, I had a constant dull ache after the numbing wore off. Thankfully that seems to be improving, however I notice the tooth is now sensitive to cold, whereas it wasn't before. I also did my own poor man's bite test by gently biting the plastic end of my toothbrush, which I've done before a couple times to track symptoms. Frustratingly it's still sensitive to bite pressure.
Questions
I'm feeling confused because I thought the purpose of the temporary crown was to confirm that the permanent crown would help. But if increased sensitivity is expected and I'm not supposed to chew hard food, I'm unclear on how to assess whether it's helping or not.
Today I called the endodontist back for advice. He asked to see me in 2 weeks after the tooth has had a chance to settle. I'm guessing if it's still symptomatic at that point, he'll recommend a root canal. He alluded to this at our first visit, but was fairly confident a crown would help given that there was no discernible pulp involvement and very mild symptoms.
I'm curious to get a second opinion here. I wasn't expecting the temporary crown to make things worse, nor was I expecting a root canal for such mild symptoms. Has anyone seen a case like this improve? Could a root canal be appropriate for a tooth that was barely symptomatic? Is there a chance something else is wrong with the tooth that a root canal wouldn't fix?
Hi, several months ago I was chewing something hard and felt a sudden sharp fleeting pain near my lower left molar. It went away in a few seconds. I had no lingering symptoms. I mentioned it at my next dental cleaning. The dentist said X-rays were OK and the tooth looked OK, so I ignored it.
Over the next few months, I slowly developed on and off mild sensitivity only when chewing hard food. It was very mild pain if any. Then one week I started getting sensitivity to hot and cold with zings of sharp pain, so I went back to the dentist.
Treatment so far
The dentist did a cold test on tooth 18 which provoked some pain that went away after a few seconds. After looking closely, he said he thought there might be a hairline crack and did a filling. While he was drilling, there was one point where I felt a sudden sharp pain despite being numbed.
The filling seemed to improve the thermal sensitivity somewhat, but the tooth remained sensitive when chewing hard food. He referred me to endodontist.
The endodontist did more tests including a CBCT scan, which looked clear, and a bite test, which provoked some mild sensitivity or pressure (not pain) on tooth 18. He referred me back to the dentist for a temporary crown, and to monitor for a month.
I got the temporary crown yesterday. The dentist said to expect some sensitivity because the temporary crown is not as snug, and also to avoid chewing hard or sticky food because it's not very strong either. Sure enough, I had a constant dull ache after the numbing wore off. Thankfully that seems to be improving, however I notice the tooth is now sensitive to cold, whereas it wasn't before. I also did my own poor man's bite test by gently biting the plastic end of my toothbrush, which I've done before a couple times to track symptoms. Frustratingly it's still sensitive to bite pressure.
Questions
I'm feeling confused because I thought the purpose of the temporary crown was to confirm that the permanent crown would help. But if increased sensitivity is expected and I'm not supposed to chew hard food, I'm unclear on how to assess whether it's helping or not.
Today I called the endodontist back for advice. He asked to see me in 2 weeks after the tooth has had a chance to settle. I'm guessing if it's still symptomatic at that point, he'll recommend a root canal. He alluded to this at our first visit, but was fairly confident a crown would help given that there was no discernible pulp involvement and very mild symptoms.
I'm curious to get a second opinion here. I wasn't expecting the temporary crown to make things worse, nor was I expecting a root canal for such mild symptoms. Has anyone seen a case like this improve? Could a root canal be appropriate for a tooth that was barely symptomatic? Is there a chance something else is wrong with the tooth that a root canal wouldn't fix?