I had a root canaled tooth extracted in June because it was causing pain that did not show up clinically on any xray. The extraction did solve the issue (no tooth=no pain) BUT it seemed to wreck havoc on the rest of my mouth, causing my bite/TMJ to shift and put pressure on other teeth. As a result, I had extreme pain in other teeth that never bothered me before. I believe that if I had worn a night guard back then, I might have been able to avoid the extraction. Now that is not to say that root canaled teeth are safe and healthy to have in the mouth, but living in chronic dental pain, as I do now, is also not safe and healthy. So I don't know which would have been the lesser evil. I think about my teeth 100% of my life now, and it limits what I can eat or do or sometimes, when the pain is worst, limits my daily function. I might have more root canals or extractions in my future, even with wearing the bite guard.

I can say that having my dentist adjust the occlusion on the teeth that hurt the most did make a big difference from horrible pain to mild pain. And I now only chew in one little area of my mouth in the one place I have no pain.