I have extreme pain in the root canal treated tooth. Will I lose my tooth?

Question

Hi doctor,

In root canal treatment, even after temporary filling, pain is still present. If something touches the tooth, there is extreme pain. Is it normal or do I need to get the tooth removed?

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Root canal treatment involves three main steps namely:

Access opening (opening of the root canal).
Biomechanical preparation (cleaning and shaping the canal).
Obturation (filling the canal).

Temporary filling which you mean is just the superficial one. Pain may persist after the first two steps and before completion of the third step.

The pain might be due to:

Presence of pulp tissue remnants inside the canal due to improper cleaning.

Infection around the tooth apex.

Accidental biting on hard food substance.

The above-mentioned pain will disappear soon after the third step, once the remnants are removed and the infection subsides.

As of now, do not bite on any hard food substance with the treated tooth.

In case the pain remains even after the root canal filling is done, then re-root canal treatment might be needed after seeing the x-ray.

There are various methods to save the tooth and hence you may not require extraction of the tooth.

For follow up, kindly attach pictures of the treated tooth and also the pre and postoperative x-rays and consult a dentist online --> https://www.icliniq.com/ask-a-doctor-online/dentist