{"id":55984,"date":"2026-05-22T17:18:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T00:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/?p=55984"},"modified":"2026-05-22T17:51:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T00:51:41","slug":"cavity-on-inside-of-tooth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/cavity-on-inside-of-tooth\/","title":{"rendered":"A cavity on the inside of a tooth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hey Dr Hall! I have had two dentists tell me I had a tooth with a huge cavity on the inside. They said they could not believe I was not in severe pain. That was about two weeks ago. Today I felt some kind of pulse pain under the tooth in the gum. Is it fixing to get me? They said it\u2019s gonna break half or more off and I\u2019ll be in the severe pain then! The first dentist took an x-ray and told me this. Not too sure, I went to the 2nd dentist. He said the same thing. What would be cheaper and better the root canal or pull it and get implant. The tooth above was a botched root canal crown and the post kept falling out. It was botched from the start. So I&#8217;m getting an implant there.<br \/>\n&#8211; Trina<\/p>\n<p>(See Dr. Hall&#8217;s answer below.)<\/p>\n<div class=\"responsive-post-content\">\n<div class=\"post-left-column\"><script>\/\/ <![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); \/\/ ]]><\/script><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">We thank our advertisers who help fund this site.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Square for mns blog - 2020 --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4419877247826466\" data-ad-slot=\"6484616093\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-right-column\">\n<p>Trina,<br \/>\nSince the diagnosis was confirmed by two dentists, it must be correct. What they are telling you is cavity on the inside of a tooth would be what dentists in professional circles would call internal resorption, which I mentioned in the post you were commenting on.<\/p>\n<p>It is a fairly rare condition and is likely caused by some irritation causing the pulp of the tooth to be inflamed.<\/p>\n<p>Here is an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1991790213000524\" target=\"_blank\">x-ray showing this internal resorption<\/a>, courtesy of Dr. Fang-Chi Li at Taipei Medical University.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-55987\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cavity-on-inside-of-tooth.jpg\" alt=\"x-ray showing two lower molars and two premolars, with internal resorption on the second premolar.\" width=\"484\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cavity-on-inside-of-tooth.jpg 484w, https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cavity-on-inside-of-tooth-300x223.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 484px) 100vw, 484px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The best way to treat this, in my opinion, is to save the tooth with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/dental\/root_canal_treatment.htm\" target=\"_blank\">root canal treatment<\/a>. I think it&#8217;s always preferable to save your natural tooth when possible. But with the bad experience you have had with a failed root canal, I wouldn&#8217;t blame you for having it extracted and an implant placed.<\/p>\n<p>Here is an x-ray of the repair that Dr. Fang-Chi Li made of the tooth pictured above. This tooth should last the patient a good long time.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cavity-on-inside-of-tooth-repaired.jpg\" alt=\"x-ray showing the repair of the second premolar mentioned above.\" width=\"484\" height=\"365\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-55988\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cavity-on-inside-of-tooth-repaired.jpg 484w, https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cavity-on-inside-of-tooth-repaired-300x226.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 484px) 100vw, 484px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If the internal resorption has progressed to where it perforates the root of the tooth, restoration becomes more complicated. Not only is it tricky to seal the perforation, but with so much of the inside of the tooth gone, it becomes seriously weakened and vulnerable to breaking off. In that case, I would recommend replacing the tooth with an implant.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Dr. Hall<\/p>\n<p>Do you have a comment or anything else to add? We&#8217;d love to hear from you. Enter your comment below. Or click here to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/askdr.htm\">ask Dr. Hall a question.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: currentColor; width: 450px; height: 80px; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mynewsmile.com&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=80\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hey Dr Hall! I have had two dentists tell me I had a tooth with a huge cavity on the inside. They said they could not believe I was not in severe pain. That was about two weeks ago. Today I felt some kind of pulse pain under the tooth in the gum. Is it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[1541,1404,1542],"class_list":{"0":"post-55984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-root-canals","7":"tag-cavity-on-the-inside-of-a-tooth","8":"tag-internal-resorption","9":"tag-perforation","10":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A cavity on the inside of a tooth - Cosmetic Dentistry Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/cavity-on-inside-of-tooth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A cavity on the inside of a tooth - Cosmetic Dentistry Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hey Dr Hall! I have had two dentists tell me I had a tooth with a huge cavity on the inside. They said they could not believe I was not in severe pain. That was about two weeks ago. Today I felt some kind of pulse pain under the tooth in the gum. Is it [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/cavity-on-inside-of-tooth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cosmetic Dentistry Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-23T00:18:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-23T00:51:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cavity-on-inside-of-tooth.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"484\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David A. 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Hall","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4615c869fad982a8b037801e6bd5181b104e67228b9c0525d2ad490de1e7b78e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4615c869fad982a8b037801e6bd5181b104e67228b9c0525d2ad490de1e7b78e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4615c869fad982a8b037801e6bd5181b104e67228b9c0525d2ad490de1e7b78e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David A. Hall"},"description":"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.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.infinitydentalweb.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55984"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55990,"href":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55984\/revisions\/55990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mynewsmile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}