Is it possible to damage a tooth that's crowned with the back of a drill? Or is this referred pain from a tooth that's waiting on a root canal?

[shouldabeenflossing]

My back-most two molars on the upper left have had a temporary crown since last Friday. They just needed fillings, but there wasn't enough tooth to work with anymore so they need crowns. I've been in enough pain that I can't really get by without round the clock pain-killers and it wakes me up when they wear off. Seems pretty obvious that I'm getting a root canal in at least one of those teeth. This will be my 3rd.

Below, the second tooth from the back on the bottom left, got hit pretty hard by the back of the drill when the dentist was drilling away at the top teeth. Even all numbed up, I was hurting a bit while it happened. I figured it wasn't a big deal, and it was my fault that my dumb jaw couldn't open wide enough. That tooth has had a root canal already I think, and it has a crown on it, but it feels like pain is coming from that tooth and it hurts like hell. I can't tell if it's just referred pain from the top tooth, which hurts even worse. Or, worse, what if the impact of the back of the drill somehow cracked the inner tooth? Is that even possible? Is there a way to detect that on an x-ray?

I'm going to go ahead and get the upper root canal done, but if the pain doesn't stop on the bottom tooth, and it seems like there's something wrong, would the dental practice cover the costs to fix it? I'm already 3k deep, and this root canal will bring me down another 1.5k, and there's no way I can manage an additional 2-3k. It feels like it's entirely not my fault if they had indeed damaged the tooth while working on the upper ones. Am I wrong?

Is it even possible for referred pain to be like this? When I press on the bottom tooth, it hurts, and pressing on every other tooth (except the two on top with temporary crowns) doesn't hurt. Does that mean it was damaged?

I should mention... On my right bottom side, I've had a root canal that I got when I was maybe 8 or 9 (31 now) that got infected in my early 20s. They said the infection was in the jaw bone so they drilled through the canal and into the jaw and bleached everything in there. The pain was very similar what I'm feeling now - intense, constant, and radiating out to my mid-neck and upper temple. They had given me Vicodin for it at the time, which I wasn't a huge fan of. In this case, ibuprofen totally takes care of the pain for a good 4-5 hours. Unfortunately I'm coming up on 10 days of taking it, so I'm hoping I can get everything fixed by then.

 

[shouldabeenflossing]

Update: Now that my painkillers have kicked in, I've checked my teeth for pressure sensitivity. The bottom crown is not sensitive to pressure at all, and the top molar is very sensitive to pressure. I'm feeling reassured that this means my brain is just interpreting pain signals from the top and bottom as being the same thing when the pain level starts climbing too high.

 

[smithwilfer]

Hi ,consult your doctor

 

[Brause]

Generally, such referred pain is possible...as I have it, too, just the other way round: the second lower molars (#36...and previously #46) refer to their upper equivalents.

Can the back of the drill damage a tooth? Theoretically yes [that is "THEORETICALLY"]. I don't know how realistic that is. This would be filed under "iatrogenic damage" and "dental trauma". Just google these terms. I link to an article:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/21122754_Iatrogenic_injury_to_the_pulp_in_dental_procedures_Aspects_of_pathogenesis_management_and_preventive_measures

As to the very last upper molars. Do you need those? A friend of mine had them extracted and never replaced...works fine for him.

I am not a big fan of root canals as they always instantly failed for me.

Pain when pushing a tooth down/chewing: points to the periapical area (the area around the root tip). Two possibilities: a) abscess/cyst/infection and b) a widened ligament. An X-ray and/or CBCT scan should give evidence. The ligament is relatively harmless, as it just needs rest, option a) would need endodontic treatment or extraction.