Patient: tooth pain and swollen gums in porcelain braces I am a female, 27 years old. I have had bad teeth since I was a child and had frequent pains when I was in school; I had fillings one after another (mainly in the grooves), and in 2006, I had braces (3 porcelain + 2 steel teeth, braces are attached) put on my upper right teeth (3 grooves) and lower left teeth (2 grooves); after that, I had no pain for more than 2 years. However, since August 2008, the teeth with braces started to have pain again intermittently, during which time I took a lot of medication and had some relief. However, since December 2008, the pain has been intensifying one after another; since the end of January, I basically relied on porridge and stew, and could not eat hard things, and could not even eat rice; the tooth loosening phenomenon occurred frequently; at the same time, the lower right tooth (2 slot teeth) also had frequent pain. I went to the hospital at the beginning of March this year and took the pictures (attached); the doctor (non-endodontist) said that my condition was complicated and that I needed to kill the nerve, make a post, shatter the previous braces and make new ones; it would take a long time to heal completely. I would like to ask the doctor, based on the symptoms shown on the film and my description; must I have new braces and posts? Is it feasible for me to remove the previous braces, kill the nerve and get the tooth filled and no more braces? Of course the goal is to completely eradicate my teeth and reduce the disease as soon as possible. Thank you very much! Hou Benxiang, Department of Endodontics, Beijing Stomatological Hospital: I have not seen your dental film. From the symptoms you describe, there may be periodontitis or/and periapical periodontitis, which needs to be diagnosed after clinical examination and taking x-rays. If it is periapical inflammation, of course, you have to remove the braces in order to redo the root canal treatment. As for whether to do another crown, it depends on the extent of the tooth remaining. Generally, the posterior teeth (molar teeth) after root canal treatment are recommended to be restored with crowns in order to better restore the function and not to split easily when chewing food.