I left out one thing that I've been wanting to tell my dentist as well. Not sure if it's relevant to the actual condition of my tooth, but ever since the first root canal I have felt like this tooth has been a foreign object in my mouth. Last week I met a woman at the dentist who was crying about her implant, how much she hated it, how it felt like someone had just stuck something in her jaw in place of her tooth. And I realized that this was the same exact way my R/C tooth feels to me, like a completely foreign object, jammed into my VERY uncomfortable gum.

I don't know if this is how ALL root canals feel (my second R/C tooth is still inflamed so too soon to tell about about that), but I certainly hope I don't have an extraction and get an implant that feels the same way as that poor woman's.