Jim,

If this xray can appear on the dentist computer screen then it is a digital xray. If he can only view the xray on an xray box viewer then it is not digital. Did he view it on a computer screen? If you are contemplating having the root canal, I would suggest that you have an xray taken at a different angle to determine if the canal is calcified or not.

The canine is the 3rd tooth from your front tooth. You have a central, a lateral, and a canine. I cannot tell you how many it is from the back because this xray does not show all of your molars and so I don't know how many of them you still have.

There is an infection hovering over about 1/3rd of the tooth from the root down. Yes, he may have referred to this as a hazy shadow. He should have been more specific.

A calcified canal means that the nerve that is suppose to be there is not visible on this xray as that portion of the interior of the tooth has fused together. There may be a microscopic canal where there was once a large canal but microscopic canals are not picked up on the xrays. Or this tooth could have an anomaly meaning the large canal maybe never formed properly in the first place. No, I cannot tell you if it fused or if it never formed.

If the canal is calcified, then there is no access to the large canal which means the root canal cannot be done. So the tooth would need to be removed.

Drill a hole in what? The only hole that gets drilled into the tooth for a root canal is the opening hole into the pulp chamber in the center of the tooth. Instruments are then pushed into the opening and up into the large canal scraping out the nerve tissue. It's not like you drill a hole into the tooth and the contents miraculously fall out.

Root canaled teeth are chronically inflamed and infected. The rc procedure does not cure the infection. If that causes you concern then there is no point in doing the root canal. If you are not concerned about the ill health of the tooth, then if the canal is not calcified, do the root canal.

If you extract the tooth and do not replace it with something, then you are most likely going to have issues occur with the shifting of your teeth which can result in other dental problems as I have explained to you. If you do the root canal, it could be a week, a month... 6 months... 5 years.... before that tooth is removed. Why? Because you will most likely keep the tooth irrelevant of how infected it becomes until it becomes painful.

You need to read all of this information over again and see that I have repetitively given you the same information again and again. You are in a dilemma because you are uneasy about the information that I have given you because you have your own version of things and on top of that your dentist does not offer much information at all. Sort through it and make a decision that you feel is best for you.

Bryanna