THE CASE FILES CASE 008 — TOOTH #14

The one that got missed.

A year of bite pain after a root canal. Monthly adjustments. Two providers, no answers — until a 45-minute consultation and one 3D scan found the canal everyone else had missed.

SPECIALIST CONSULTATION ✦ MODERATE 45-MINUTE CONSULTATION
CBCT-guided consultation revealing the missed MB2 canal
The one that got missed
CASE 008 — SPECIALIST CONSULTATION · TORRANCE
THE CASE

One tooth's journey, in four beats.

01
THE PROBLEM

A year of adjustments.

A Rancho Palos Verdes patient with bite discomfort on an upper molar ever since its root canal — treated with monthly bite tweaks by his dentist and an evaluation by another endodontist. Nothing changed.

02
THE PICTURE

Look again, differently.

Rather than another adjustment, we started over: full records review, an exam that reproduced the symptom, and CBCT imaging of the tooth itself.

03
THE WORK

The hidden canal.

The scan revealed unresolved anatomy inside the treated root canal system — a missed MB2 — the true source that a year of occlusal adjustments could never touch.

04
THE RETURN

An answer, at last.

The patient finally had a reason for the pain — and a targeted path to fix it, instead of another round of guesswork.

THE PROTOCOL
  • ✦  Full review of prior records and radiographs before the visit
  • ✦  Clinical exam reproducing the bite symptom
  • ✦  CBCT imaging of the treated molar (#14)
  • ✦  Finding: unresolved anatomy in the root canal system — the missed MB2
  • ✦  Findings explained with the scan on screen; targeted treatment plan set
WHAT THIS CASE TEACHES

What this case teaches.

IMAGING The CBCT ends the guessing A year of bite adjustments treated the symptom. One 3D scan showed the cause — anatomy left unresolved inside the treated tooth.
CANDOR Missed canals happen Even good clinicians miss MB2s — they hide. What matters is the systematic search that finds them before more adjustments are wasted.
RESTRAINT Diagnosis before drills A 45-minute consultation prevented another year of trial-and-error — and made the eventual fix a targeted one.
CLINICAL DISCLAIMER: PRESENTED FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES WITH PATIENT CONSENT. IDENTIFYING INFORMATION REMOVED PER HIPAA. INDIVIDUAL RESULTS VARY. ALL IMAGES REPRESENT ACTUAL PATIENT TREATMENT.
THE GALLERY CONTINUES

More from the collection.

The procedure behind this case: Endodontic Consultation →
MORE FROM DIAGNOSIS & CONSULTATION
  • The ache behind the eye — Throbbing tooth pain that peaked every morning, swelling around the eye, antibiotics that did nothing — and a 3D scan whose ragged edges pointed far beyond the tooth.
  • The root canal we didn't do — Referred for a root canal after two weeks of ear ache and gum irritation — but every test said the teeth were healthy. The real culprit: a jaw muscle. Total treatment: massage.
  • The hour that changes the answer — Chewing pain in the upper right, arriving with holiday-season sinus congestion. Tooth, sinus, or both? Thirty minutes and one 3D scan sorted what months of guessing could not.
SEE ALL DIAGNOSIS & CONSULTATION CASES →
← PREVIOUS · CASE 007 — MAXILLARY CENTRAL INCISOR The front tooth that stayed At 62, with a fractured front tooth and a failed root canal beneath it, extraction and an implant seemed inevitable. The patient asked for one more opinion first. NEXT · CASE 009 — MANDIBULAR MOLAR → Sealing the wrong turn A drill searching for a canal went 2mm past where it should have — straight into the furcation. Three hours later the hole was sealed, and three years later the tooth is still here.
VIEW ALL 15 CASES

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