Pain after temp crown removed - tooth has root canal

[allison427]

A year ago I had a root canal and them a permanent crown on my right top 3rd molar.  A month ago while brushing my teeth the crown cracked in half.  No pain at that time.  I went to see my DDS who took an x ray and said I needed a new crown.  She "sawed" the rest of the old crown off and had her assistant "install" a temporary crown.  The assistant used a very large amount of glue as it was running over the sides of the temp and onto my tongue.  Once the temp was in place I had an appt for 3 weeks later to get the permanent crown installed.  No pain at this time what so ever.  3 weeks later when a different dental assistant tried to remove the temporary crown - she could not get it off.  She pulled and pulled and rocked and rocked - switched instruments and remarked that she ought to get the other assistant - the one that used so much glue over here to get the damn thing off.  I was in pain at this time - which she said was only pressure as I had a root canal in that tooth so I was not capable of feeling pain in that tooth.  The DDS then shows up to install the permanent crown.  I told her my tooth was sore and she said the same thing about it being pressure.  She then pushed the crown on and there was more pressure and more pain.  I remarked how much better looking this crown was than my first one - the first one was almost 50% larger and really did not resemble a tooth - this one looked nice and she said they had switched labs.  (the crown was $1500.00)  We did several bite tests and  the crown was determined to not be hitting first and I was told to get a mouth guard or they would not honor the guarantee of 5 years for the crown.  So I spent another 1000.00 for the mouth guard.  Over a week later the tooth still hurts.  The doc who did the rt canal says she cant detect any cracks in the root but is bothered that it still hurts upon pressure being applied to the tooth.  The DDS says take tylenol and ice it - it should eventually go away. What is causing the pain?

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

Its possible that there is a crack in the tooth that can be detected by x-rays.  She would need to probe the gum area to see if there is a pocket that is deep in one particular area which may indicate a fracture.

The pain probably isn't from the root canal though as you have had it for awhile now.  My guess is that the source of pain is coming from the periodontal ligament which is the ligament that holds the tooth into the jaw bone.  There might have been some trauma to the area from the removal of the temporary but it should get within a week.  My other thought is that the bite is off and needed to be further adjusted.

A referral to an endodontist (root canal specialist) may be needed if the pain persists.  If it gradually gets better, then I would leave it alone.