Suspected Cracked Tooth

[Chaosdental]

Good evening don’t know if you could assist...
2016 cracked tooth on #3 left side of molar - then root canalled tooth and crown (Jan 2017).

Year later pain started in near tooth (sinus pressure) went to dentist November 2018 - got antibiotics for one week. Sinus pressure went away - then went to oral surgeon - said root canal tooth looked fine, and said he needed my dentist to confirm tooth is bad. Said x-rays of root canal look fine. So went to my own dentist and also a second opinion (my doctor referred me) - both said suspected crack tooth and they recommend extraction and implant.

I then went to my root canal specialist who said all was fine with the root canal - but for me to take allergy medicine, and brush left gum area hard to deal with issue there. He only examined mouth, and used a regular X-ray. He said if does not resolve to extract.

I then saw my regular doctor he saw no no sinus blockage.

Symptoms now: when eat or drink feel as if travels to end of tooth - pain fluctuates each day. Feel pressure on tooth area dull pain. Tooth hurts on the left side - pain coming from there. No pain in jaw area.

I then contacted the surgeon’s office with the recommendations of the two dentists...and he said that I still needed to go to TMJ doctor for an evaluation because he felt my jaw on right was tight and he thinks that might be causing tooth pain. When I saw the TMJ specialist (who works in the same practice) he said that I did have tightness in jaw. Sinus is also fine.

However, when he was scanning the 3D he also saw a small dark shadow beneath the root on the 3D and he said that might indicate a crack (when I saw the surgeon he did not see this) ... so now for 2 weeks he wants to try TMD treatment to see if that helps.

If that does not help...then what? I have been in agony for a month...how can TMD help a cracked tooth?

Question: is my option to remove the crown? And do I get a second opinion from another surgeon?
Also why did the surgeon not consider the two independent dentist evaluations if he only was going to consider only his co-worker evaluation? Any information would be helpful! Thank you!

 

[Busybee]

Chaosdental, most dentists will try to save a tooth and see whether it settles because quite often it does. A crack can cause pain but not go down to the root and sometimes they can adjust the tooth so that you are not hitting on it and that can help. It might be worth them trying to adjust the tooth before they decide to extract it. If you have a bite problem then you could have the same problems with an implant. TMJ therapy to relax the jaw is in my opinion a useless pacifier. It might help if you have serious jaw problems but it does nothing to help a cracked tooth. It's useful to wear a guard at night to prevent grinding on the area. You could try to have the crown remade if you can afford it as maybe it doesn't fit well or the preparation is not suitable for your tooth. Bearing in mind that that may not help. If they try to redo the root canal they might be able to spot a crack and see whether it's below the gum line. There are lots of options for trying to save a tooth, but it all depends on how much money you have and the fact that you might be wasting it if the tooth needs extracting.