Persistent pain to biting on a new CEREC crown

Dr. Hall,
I recently received my first cerec dental work done on 3 back teeth. One of the teeth hurts when I chew as if a nerve is exposed. I cringe if I chew something just slightly crunchy e.g. popcorn. I have gone back 2 times had the tooth shaved done. My dentist explained to me that I have a cow chewing effect when I eat and that the pain was more than likely from my chew. I disagree because I have never had this problem. Do you agree with her? Or can you give me a brief explanation without seeing me as to what you think may be happening. I do not enjoy eating for fear I may hit the nerve in the tooth.
– Leigh from Oklahoma

Dear Leigh,
I don’t think your problem of pain when you chew has anything to do with the fact that this is a CEREC crown. Fitting the crown to the bite is usually easier with CEREC, because this work is done by the computer that mills the crown.

There are two likely reasons for a tooth with a new crown to hurt from biting. One is that the bite is high – you hit this tooth harder than the other teeth, which makes it sensitive. The other is that the tooth is infected. The infection can cause an inflammation of the ligament that connects your tooth to the jawbone, which makes the tooth tender when you’re biting on it, or it can even cause a constant toothache.

With two trips back to the dentist to reduce the bite, I would guess that the problem is probably not that this cown is high. So it would be time to investigate if it is infected. An x-ray of the tooth would show whether or not this is the case. However, sometimes the signs of infection are rather subtle on an x-ray, so you may need the opinion of a root canal specialist if your dentist’s diagnostic skills aren’t that sharp. The intensity of your pain as you are describing it along with the amount of time that I’m guessing has passed since this crown was done make me very suspicious that this is the case.
– Dr. Hall