Thanks Carol - never heard of an endodontist before so I looked it up here. "An Endodontist is a Dentist with highly specialized training in diagnosing and treating problems and complications related to the inner tooth root canal."   

Sounds right ... hmmmm think I'll ask for a referral. And It was most interesting to read this: "Endodontic treatment is necessary when the pulp, the soft tissue inside the root canal, becomes inflamed or infected. The inflammation or infection can have a variety of causes: deep decay, repeated dental procedures on the tooth, or a crack or chip in the tooth."

'Repeated dental procedures' --- yes!! So good to have my suspicions confirmed! Over the last couple years, that poor little tooth has been drilled and filled and re-filled three times. Another dentist convinced me to have a root canal on it at least 15 years ago. I should have said no - it had never given me a moment's grief in my life. But I was afraid when he said he saw a 'problem'(??) in the X-ray.

Well, it sure bothered me afterwards! And a couple weeks later the whole tooth turned black. I was pretty upset about that .... but thankfully, I've had only one other experience with a root canal since. And that other one STILL hurts, and needs to be re-splinted regularly .... arrrggghhhh ...

Thanks for the input, and sorry bout the complaining.