Please help I am totally confused

Joined
Nov 4, 2024
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I have a lower molar tooth that I was told had one (or two) vertical hairline cracks in it. One dentist told me it was one crack, and the other dentist told me it was two cracks. The first dentist told me I had to put a crown on the tooth, the second dentist told me she could cut out the crack and refill it, but when she said that, she said crack singular even though she had told me it was two cracks. I was having intermittent mild pain coming and going and getting worse, but no sensitivity to cold or pain on biting. I chose to have the tooth refilled. When I got home, I noticed when feeling the tooth, that there was an area where the cusps meet on the tongue side of the tooth, that had a space large enough to stick my fingernail into at the top edge of the tooth. I was also in severe pain for twelve days after the filling. I made an appointment to see the dentist again to show her the space. She told me it was anatural indentation in the tooth where the cusps meet and there was nothing that needed to be done about it. She told me that when she “cut into the crack” it had a lot of decay under the filling and that it would takemore time to heal. She told me my bite was fine and then she sent me to an endodontist for a CBCT to check if I needed a root canal because I was in so much pain. The endodontist told me I did not need a root canal and there was nothing wrong except my bite was too high and she filed it down. (The pain did get better after she did this). She said the space I felt in the tooth was the top part of a craze line that was open there but “did not extend into the tooth.” She showed me a picture of a tooth that looked really split open at the top (much wider than my tooth) with a craze line under it as an example of what was happening with my tooth. I also went to an emergency dentist at a dental schoolto look at this tooth and she also told me she didn’t see anything wrong. I am totally confused by all of this. I have no idea if I had one or two cracks in my tooth, one was “cut-out” and the craze line is the actually second one or if there is only the one craze line. I do not understand why there is a space in the tooth where the cusps meet and there is the craze line. It does not feel like a natural depression to me as I can stick my fingernail into it and feel the edges. And I don’t know what, if anything, to do about it further. Apparently, none of this shows on the regular x rays that I have. I do have a picture here but it isn’t obvious. I cannot get a copy of the CBCT scan as the file is too large. Can anyone help to explain any of this to me?
 

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Dr M

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It is difficult to see on the photo, but a craze line is technically a hairline crack in a tooth. That might be why the one dentist mentioned one crack and the other one two. Craze lines are cosmetic in nature and don't usually extend deeper into the tooth.
The change that you are feeling now, might be due to the tooth being refilled. I don't know how the filling looked prior to being re-done.
In my opinion, if the endodontist confirmed that there is nothing wrong, I would maybe try to not focus on this area too much. Leave it alone and don't go scratch with your finger in the area. Don't create a problem where there is none.
 

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Joined
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I am having so much pain that I made another appointment with the endodontist but in the meantime I returned to the emergency dental clinic at a local dental college. I showed them the area in question, I showed them that I could stick my fingernail into the space, and they finally confirmed there is a diagonal crack across the edge of the tooth that extends into the tooth although it is not vertical and the rest of the tooth is not cracked. I am taking their report to the endodontist but please explain to me how three dentists including an endodontist with CBCT scan all missed this on exam and X-ray ?
 

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Dr M

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Can't tell you that. I can only give an opinion on the photo I saw, which was not clear at all. Hopefully the problem gets sorted out.
 

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