Post root canal: root tip missing for years? Bone never grew back?
 

A few days ago my husband started complaining about some tooth and facial pain. I did the tap test and found that it was tooth one that was causing the pain. I thought it might have been tooth 2, because it's a root canaled tooth, but the feedback from the tap test was tooth 1. Tooth 1 has an old, large, amalgam filling and I thought maybe the tooth had cracked as many amalgam filled teeth do.

My husband calls the dentist and they get him right in. They do a bite wing, hot-cold test (he passed) and tell him that in fact, it is tooth 2 that's causing him the pain. From what he's telling me, they've told him that the 'bone' never grew back after the root canal. This confuses me because they don't normally remove the apex of the tooth on a root canal from my understanding.

They also told him, his tooth pain is likely a sinus infection. He's been having sinus issues, but we normally try and fight these things naturally with Vit C. They told him he has large sinus cavities so if he would plan to remove tooth 2, it would have to be done by an oral surgeon.

Bryanna, could you please shed some light on this issue?

PS There are plans for both me and my husband to get all of our amalgams and root canals out but it's going to take some time. He has 4 root canals and I have 2. He has 1 amalgam left as do I.

I'm trying to post an image from my phone but it won't allow me to do so.

Hi Ashley,

The tap test is not always very conclusive because the inflammation can cause referred pain to another tooth.

I hope the dentist took more than a bite wing xray because this type of xray does not show the apex of the tooth. Hopefully he took a periapical xray also...??

Anyway.... what they are referring to about the bone not growing back after the root canal.... this simply means that he has infection in the bone which has caused him to have bone loss. Very typical of root canaled teeth...... not healthy, but typical.

Regarding his sinus infection..... there is a good chance that it is caused by this infected tooth. Keep in mind that all root canaled teeth are chronically infected. The bacteria has no boundaries therefore it infects the bone (thus the bone loss), the sinus and beyond.

To treat the sinus infection becomes futile as long as the source of the infection (quite possibly the tooth) remains present. Again, this is a typical occurrence seen frequently in dental offices. Unfortunately, not all dentists are forthright in telling this to the patient.

I hope this information helps. Yes, he should see an OS, not a GD for the removal of this tooth.

Bryanna