Another day, Another challenge.

Sometimes,

the challenge is not in negotiating the thin and curved canals.

Sometimes,

the challenge is not in the matching of shade of restoration to the tooth shade.

Sometimes,

the challenge is not in removing the tooth which is just not ready to come out.

Sometimes,

the challenge is not in the treatment at all.

Sometimes the challenge is in the diagnosis itself.

Patient had been experiencing intermittent pain for past 3 months. Has been to 4 dentists and even a mid-night visit to E.R. due to severe pain but with no clue what was causing the pain. All symptoms of pulpitis but no signs of it.

He finally gets a swelling on his face and that's when one of the dentists told him that its most likely to be in his upper jaw.

As he narrated his ordeal to me, I stopped seeing him and was actually seeing a cousin of mine who too went through the same thing 3 years back and I (and two more dentists in India) couldn't find one cause for his pain.

Then finally one day he came to me and I sat with my loupes and checked everything for good 45 minutes and though I had no idea what I was looking for, eventually I found it.

But I didn't want my past experience to bias my decision making. So I sat down with my loupes and took good 20 minutes to check everything though my gut already knew what I was looking for.

It was difficult for him to accept it as there was no definitive evidence I could present to him except that I could make the pain come and go by placing a probe in the fracture line and wedge the two sections apart. He returned the next day and we removed his tooth.

He has been free of pain since.