Hi, I love your blog.
I had the first part of a root canal on molar #30 on October 17th, then the final part at the end of November. It wasn’t as bad as I thought.
The tooth was fine after, but just felt a little funny. Then, recently, it developed sensitivity to cold. Since I should have no pulp or nerve to hurt, or be sensitive, what could possibly cause this? Did my root canal fail?
What do you think?
Thanks so much!
– Jamie in Alabama
Dear Jamie,
If the tooth where you had the root canal treatment is now sensitive to cold, then there is an additional canal that they haven’t found yet. You need to tell your dentist and have it checked out.
It isn’t all that rare to have a hidden canal in a tooth. That happened to me several times to teeth I treated. But the dentist does have to go in and take care of that. Sometimes the dentist will then refer you to a specialist, depending on how hard they think it will be to find that hidden canal. While strictly speaking, this is a failed root canal, it might be more accurate to call it an incomplete root canal.
And usually the fee for a root canal treatment is based on which tooth is treated, so there would be no extra charge because of finding an additional canal. But some dentists charge by the number of canals, which would increase the fee.
– Dr. Hall
Related links:
Read about what is meant by a “dead tooth.”
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About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
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