"No, once the nerve is gone the tooth itself can't cause pain - but the living bone / surrounding soft tissues can and do get painfully irritated / infected as the body naturally rejects (tries to protect itself) from the foreign material used to fasten the remaining tooth structure to the bone. "

Daylia, no "foreign material" is ever used to fasten the remaining tooth to the bone during any root canal procedure, in short, because the "remaining tooth" is not separated from the bone in the first place. The tooth is attached to the bone by a thin membrane called the periodontal ligament, which is a 100% natural part of your body. Its purpose is to attach tooth to bone, which it does before, during, and after a root canal. It can and often does become inflamed when the dead/dying material inside a tooth hasn't been removed in a timely fashion.