Hi,
I'm a patient, not a dentist. I'm in a country where I'm unfamiliar with the dental care (Colombia), so I want to ask questions here to supplement whatever the dentists tell me. A few weeks ago, I got an x-ray (image attached) of a tooth with an old (19 years) amalgam filling, that was giving me some pain when chewing on hard things. Yesterday a piece of the tooth broke off, so I will be going to a dentist tomorrow to see what my options are. I don't like amalgam in my mouth so I guess now is my chance to rid of this thing. I've never had any crowns or root canals and this is the only big filling I have. The size of the amalgam, plus the piece breaking off, I'm guessing means I need at least a crown.
Anyway, my question is about the x-ray. You can see the dark line going up in the front of the tooth, and it's missing in the back. Is that normal, or does it mean something is wrong with the nerve and blood vessels that are supposed to be there?
~R
I'm a patient, not a dentist. I'm in a country where I'm unfamiliar with the dental care (Colombia), so I want to ask questions here to supplement whatever the dentists tell me. A few weeks ago, I got an x-ray (image attached) of a tooth with an old (19 years) amalgam filling, that was giving me some pain when chewing on hard things. Yesterday a piece of the tooth broke off, so I will be going to a dentist tomorrow to see what my options are. I don't like amalgam in my mouth so I guess now is my chance to rid of this thing. I've never had any crowns or root canals and this is the only big filling I have. The size of the amalgam, plus the piece breaking off, I'm guessing means I need at least a crown.
Anyway, my question is about the x-ray. You can see the dark line going up in the front of the tooth, and it's missing in the back. Is that normal, or does it mean something is wrong with the nerve and blood vessels that are supposed to be there?
~R
