Thanks Bryanna. Of course, I realize that you are not available 24/7 to answer my questions; I'm just very appreciative to get your input, and I thought (or was hopeful) that I might get a chance to do at least one extraction today, so I was worried that I had to make an immediate decision.

Instead, the periodontist said that he thought there was some violation of the biologic width of the first root canaled tooth. This tooth had a Cerec crown on it that had universally criticized by every dentist and endo who subsequently saw it. It never felt like it fit in my mouth, and in fact always seemed like it was cutting into my gum. Eventually (it was less than a year old at the time of the root canal) I sort of got used to the discomfort, though never completley. Last year right before Xmas, however, the pain welled up and instead of going to my regular dentist (not the same one who made the cerec crown), I asked for a endodontist, thinking I needed to take care of it before the holidays.

After the root canal, however, the gum swelled and wouldn't calm down. Even after they fixed the pain and pressure of the tooth itself, the gum never felt right. It is this feeling that there is always something stuck under the tooth (or that I need to floss constantly because of some invisible pressure) that has been the most troubling part of this last year. He performed some minor work scraping the gum away from the tooth (here I'm slightly fuzzy on the the details) to see if the gum can start to repair itself.

More important (at least in my mind) is that he said that thought both of my root canals may have been unnecessary. He thought it was possible that my original pain may have come from the awkward placement of the cerec crown, and that the additional pain might have originated with that as well: my bite has shifted to one side, possibly from the crown and some other dental work I had done at the same time. He suspects I also now have a TMJ issue, which makes sense to me as I have been having headaches and some numbness on that side of my face.

He wants me to wait before any further procedures (i.e, extraction) to see if his gum treatment yields any benefit and also if I get any relief from some simple TMJ exercises and treatment. I can't tell you how awful it was to learn that I quite possibly had TWO root canals for no good reason, not even as you say to "retain" the teeth. It's horrible to think I spent all this time and money AND compromised my present and future health just because I thought I needed a root canal, and I found an endodontist who agreed.

I like this periodontist and despite the pain I have been in, he did manage to persuade me to wait another couple of weeks to see if the treatment he did (and the other stuff he wants me to do) will make a difference. I realize I probably still need to have the extraction, but I am so angry at having two teeth root-canaled for no reason that it is hard to make another drastic decision at the moment. It's bad enough to have a root canal when you are facing a major abscess; in my case, the endo told me only after the fact that there was no infection, just "inflammation" of the nerve. I guess that means I killed two perfectly good (or at least, not BAD) teeth.

At least I hope I know enough now not to be talked into another root canal, ever.

I know you're going to say I still need to extract the tooth (teeth). And I'm sure you're probably right, but I am going to wait until after Labor Day, since everyone on vacation until then anyway. In the meantime, I would love to get your input on this gum issue, the biologic width thing. From what little I have read online, it does seem to match up with my pain and the sensation in my gum. Also the TMJ: I kept feeling like my bite was off, and it just kept getting worse after the root canal (especially since I couldn't chew at all on that side for the last 9 months.)

And thanks again so much for getting back to me. I feel like I spent 9 months wandering in the wilderness until I found this site. THANK YOU again! I'm very grateful for your help.