Several years ago I had a root canal and a cap on one of my lower teeth. The tooth and the area around it have been painful for at least 2 years. One dentist said that all root canals are not the same. I image that was the most he could say without breaking some kind of code. The next dentist while telling me he was going to fill a tooth that didn't bother me, told me that tooth was abcessed and needed to be taken care. After he filled the bottom tooth next to the problem, I got a really bad abscess and didn't go back, just called and got antibiotics. The pain eased but then the filled tooth cracked and broke off. Today I went back to the same dentist and he told me that the cracked tooth was the one that hurt and that one along with two top molars needed to be extracted.

Question is why would I have pain in a tooth that had a root canal done and how can you get cavitates on capped teeth that have had root canals done?

Thank you

Hi Peewee,

Yes, you can get cavities on teeth that have had root canals and crowns. The problem with that is you don't get any kind of sensitivity (sweet and cold) because there is no nerve in the tooth.

Sometimes when a root canal is done the infection doesn't clear up as it should or you may have had auxiliary canals that didn't get cleaned out when the root canal was done and festered over the years.

If the teeth have had root canals and there is infection you can always have the teeth retreated with another root canal to prevent losing the teeth.

I've had a few root canaled teeth that hurt due to a vertical crack running down the tooth under the gums... the bacteria travel down the crack and cause a persistent infection/pain... the only treatment for such cracks ar extractions!

The dentist can't tell if there is a vertical crack until at least the filling is removed. Unfortunately sometimes he won't see this crack until he removes the tooth.

A crack can also be determined through x-rays.. I just wanted to add that along with Flossies expertise

If the root canal was not cleaned out properly and filled down to the very tip of the nerve you will have sensitivity. Be ware of Dentists that want to do all this extra work around the problem. I deplore dentists who take advantage of people when they are at there weakest and they feed them a line of inacurate truth that only serves to line their posckets with $