Case of the week                                     Cracked tooth syndrome

I chose this case this week because it, like many cracked tooth syndrome teeth, was difficult to diagnose and caused significant suffering for the patient prior to extraction.

Liza came to see me on a Monday in severe pain in her upper right jaw.  As with most cracked teeth she was unable to tell exactly where it was coming from.  Our tests indicated that #2 (the last molar) was to blame.  Since she was in on an emergency basis we only had time to do a pulpotomy (this is like doing most of a root canal and eliminates acute pain for awhile).  Liza called the next day as bad or worse than before so we got her in to complete the root canal.  Although not responding to a pulpotomy is not a good sign, it does happen so I didn’t think too much of it at that time.  Well the next day the pain was the same but I thoguth it best to give it 2-3 days, as I always say after a root canal.  Well by Friday the pain was unbearable again so I reopened the tooth, checked