A dying tooth hurts and it's hard to bite down on this tooth. Avoiding the tooth can throw both jaw joints out of place and make an existing TMJ problem worse. Everything gets thrown out of wack and the patient's TMJ symptoms are much worse than ever before. It's root canal TMJ.

          Patients with TMJ dysfunction often suffer with tooth grinding that traumatizes one of more of their teeth. These traumatized teeth have all the root canal symptoms indicative of a dying tooth and seem to need a root canal. However, the source of the pain is not a dead tooth but rather tooth grinding trauma. In these root canal TMJ case, making a grinding guard often eliminates the root canal pain within a week. Unfortunately, many dentists actually start root canals on these teeth since they really do appear to need root canals.

          Sadly, many traumatized teeth later die and actually do need root canal therapy but this is when the root canal TMJ is left untreated. If you would like to schedule a consultation with Dr. Padolsky or Dr. Smith, call 404-874-7428.